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LOVE’S 

CROOKED 

PATH 


A Stenographer s 
Romance in 
The Far 
North 



‘Platinum Bill** 


• / • 






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LOVERS CROOKED PATH 


Jhe Romance of a Marriage to RefcEraa^ 
From Real Life in the Frozen Nortlt 

Wilfrid Robert Smith. 

‘Tlatinum Riir^ 

Author of 

®*Under the Northern Lights” — (Verse) 
*'The Rape of the Belgians,” (¥era€> 
‘^Hearts of Gold” 

''The Riven Mountalsf* 
"The Bible 'As 

Etc., etc., etc^ 


Copyright 1921 
by 

Wilfrid Robert Smith, 
Myrtle Point, Oregon. 
All Rights Reserved. 


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CHAPTER ONE 


The Gold Fever Interferes With The 
Course of True Love. 


During the spring of 1896, when the 
first news of the big gold stakes in the 
north began to reach the outside world, 
one pf tlie first to become seriously affect- 
ed in the then little city of Seattle, was 
Jim Ferris, and as is usual in that pe- 
culiar malady, the disease was not long iu 
i;-eaching the hopeless stage. 

Had it not been for his s^yeetheart, 
pretty May North, stenographer and pn- 
wate s^retary to Judge Jenkins, its 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


course would have been even more rapids 
but it was with difficulty he could bring: 
himself to go so far away from her side, 
even with the lure of the gold urging him 
on. 

At last, however, he could stand it 
no longer and one evening called at her 
home and took her down to a theatre and, 
after the show, to a cafe where they sat 
down to a light lunch. 

After the waiter had left them Jim 
leaned across the table and taking both, 
her hands in his, said earnestly: 

''May, little girl, I am going to leave 
you for a while.” 

"Why, Jim! What can have come 
over you? What do you mean?” 

"Just this, little one, that I can not 
even think of asking you to marry me on 
the salary I am now earning and it is 
likely to be a long while before I am mak- 
— 8 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


ing enough more to warrant me in taking 
such a step unless I would make a slave of 
you, and that you well know I would nev- 
er do. 

“You have heard me tell of the won- 
derful news that is coming down from the 
north and you have seen it in the papers 
for yourself. 

“I am going to the Klondyke and see 
if I cannot wrest a fortune from niother 
earth, for I am firmly convinced that that 
is the shortest road to our ultimate hap- 
piness.” 

It was a terrible blow, but May was a 
brave girl, and self reliant to a degree, so 
when the first pain of the shock had worn 
off a little she soon became reconciled or 
at least as much so as could have been ex- 
pected, and they discussed his plans at 
some length, even after they had reached 
her home, for the ship he must sail on if 
— 9 — 


LQVE^ CROOKED PATH 

would fo with party he had ar- 
ranged to go wtb, would sail in a few 
days, and there was no tin^ to spare. 

« « * « ♦ 4 : 

The time passed all too soon and the 
hour for sailing bad arrived. 

The wharf was thronged with peo- 
ple down to see the boat off and say good- 
bye to those who bad been fortunate 
enough to secure passage, for in those 
days the boats Were much smaller than 
at present and the accommodations far 
from those now to be found on the pal- 
atial steamers that ply up the coast. 

Every berth had been taken and 
there were many who had been glad to 
pay first class passage and take their 
sleep wherever they could find a place to 
spread their blankets. 

Thru the foresight of the friends 
with whom he was associated, our hero 
— 10 — 


LOVERS CRQQKED PATH 


had b^en ^mong the fortunate ones and 
May had gone aboard with him and had 
been shown the cosy little room that was 
to. be shared by himiself and two others on 
the trip. 

Many times on the voyage Jim lay in 
his berth and closed his eyes and re- 
viewed the scene as she stood in that tiny 
room, her eyes glistening with moisture, 
but with a smile, on the brave little face 
^s she helped him arrange his luggage 
and tacked a picture of herself near the 
head of hi? berth where his eyes could 
rest on it as soon as he awoke in the 
morning, for this was to be his home sev- 
eral weeks, what is now but a four or five 
day -s trip then requiring from two and a 
half to three and even four weeks to ac- 
complish. 

Finally the warning whistle sounded 
and all who were not going must go 
— 11 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 

ashore, so Jim escorted his sweetheart to 
the gangway, telling her, as he did so, 
with feelings that were but poorly con- 
cealed, what a brave little girl she was, 
and added, just before parting: 

'‘I’ll come back soon, dear, with gold 
enough to last us all dur lives and just 
loads of the finest furs in the north to 
keep my darling warm.” 

How many times was she to think of 
that parting in after years before she set 
eyes on him again and under what cir- 
cumstances the reunion would occur and 
where, neither of them would have be- 
lieved at the time. 

The* hoarse whistle sounded once 
more; the lines were cast off with a 
splash; the great hull began to trem- 
able as the engines gathered speed in 
obedience to the jangling of bells in the 
hold, while the ship slipped away into the 
— 12 — 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 


blackness of the night and, ghostlike fad- 
ed away till nothing more could be seen 
of her except the few lights that the law 
says must be kept burning to mark her 
progress and position. 

May turned and slowly walked back 
up the long wharf and was soon lost in 
the crowd, tho there was many another 
like her who had bidden farewell to 
loved ones that evening. 

Many indeed who would never meet 
again. . , 

She wound her way slowly home and 
when she retired that night lay for many 
hours with wide open eyes trying to look 
into the future, till at last tired nature 
asserted itself and she fell asleep. 

But she was bright and early at the 
office in the morning for all that and had 
the morning's mail opened and on his 
desk when the kindly old judge bustled 
— 13 — 


LOVERS CR(yO KgD,M^H 

in dnd, hot khowiiig of hei: loVer's depar- 
ture, fbr the feav’e litlte whihah had kei^ 
het 0^ coiinsei, be^h telling of the sail- 
ing the night before and of some friends 
of his who had gone. 

Truly this hoping it 6h heir frail 
shoulders pretty thick, she thot, th'O bti- 
yohd bfendihg dver her Work a triflle hi6i% 
closely, pehhaps. She ^hve no dhtwhrd 
hign. 

Dhys sliK>ed by into Weeks, and' 
weeks into months, and tho she got bcch- 
^innal letters, all glowing with storieS of 
the trip and of the big finds that were be- 
ing reported, Jiih Was Still many loi^ 
-weary mileS from his jburney’s end, and 
nothing else occurred to vary the mbh- 
otohy of her life. 

finally, whin late in the summer the 
first shipments of gold began to come oht, 
b'er cousin, who had made his hbihe with 

^ 14 — 


LOVE-S CROOKED PATO 

them for majiy lUso caught tlie 

fever arid ere loiig he, tee, whs eri his way 
to the land of gold ^th all its hajrdkhips 
arid privations, for ef th^ the early 
pioneers had more than theiir share. 

This Irift May and her mpth^ iilotit 
arid also threW the entire btirden of mliiri- 
taining the home on her shoulders, but as 
there was really not iriluch for her to do 
in the office and &e judle did not object, 
she managed tb se^re cohsidenible copy- 
ing from other attomesrs, which served 
the double purpose of adding considerable 
to her income and at the same time kept 
her busy enough to chase away the blues. 

Things went on this way for over a 
year. 

She only heard from her cousin oc- 
casionally and at the last each letter con- 
tained an appeal for flhaneial assistance 
tnd a pitiful story of bein|r jhst tori lat^ 
— tsu. 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 

or some other excuse, and each time she 
had sent all she could possibly spare. 

Thus it happened that when her 
mother fell sick during the second winter 
she was without means to properly care 
for her unless she kept on working and 
depended on the kindness of neighbors to 
look after the old lady thru the day. 

Mrs. North grew rapidly worse, 
however, towards spring, and May was 
at last obliged to ask the judge for a week 
off. 

She did not mention the reason, 
however, and the jolly old judge started 
to 'banter her, saying he supposed he 
would soon be losing her; that she was 
piobably going to get married and want- 
ed to fix up her trousseau, etc., 

She tried to smile, but the tears 
would come. 

“Why, why! Whafs all this? What’s 

the matter, little girl?” said the kindly 
— 16 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


old gentleman, realizing at last that 
something must be seriously wrong, and 
cut to the heart that he had been the in- 
nocent cause of even a single tear, for 
:^he had been with him for many years 
^nd he loved her as he would have loved 
a daughter had he had one. 

May broke down completely and told 
him the whole story, then, after which 
the judge insisted upon accompanying 
her to her home, and having made every 
^possible arrangement for the care and 
comibrt of the patient, told May she 
must not think of coming to the office 
again until her mother was entirely well 
once more. 

May thanked him, with tears of 
gratitude in her eyes but he bustled off in 
a great hurry, muttering something 
about an important engagement, so she 
settled down to take the best possible 

care of the invalid. 

— 17 — 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 

Mrs. North had never been verjr 
strong and the disease that was eating, 
her life away had been undermining her 
constitution for a long time before they 
had recognized the symptoms, and in 
spite of all that could be done she con- 
tinued to grow weaker day by day. 

The judge called daily now and had 
even sent up a noted specialist to consult 
with the attending physician, but the 
great man could do no more than his- 
more humble colleague and only shook 
his head sadly, with the remark that ‘‘it 
will not be long now.” 

Mrs. North failed still more rapidijr 
during the next few weeks and just when 
the flowers she loved were at their best 
and all nature decked in fresh regalia, 
her spirit slipped gently across the great 
divide into the other world and May was 
left alone. 


— 18 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


She had written to her cousin of her 
mother’s illness, but the m'ails were very 
uncertain during the winter in the early 
days and she well knew it would be use- 
less to depend on him now. 

She had resumed her duties in the 
office and having stored their few articleK^ 
of furniture that she did not care to 
part with, and sold the rest,- had taken 
up quarters in a boarding house, that 
she might at least have a little compan- 
ionship in the evenings, as otherwise she 
would have to spend them entirely alone 
unless she went out, which she did not 
often care to do. 

So the summer wore away and 
merged almost imperceptibly into au- 
tumn, and another winter was upon her 
almost before she realized the lapse of 
time. 

Winter was her lonely season, for 
- 19 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


then the letters from the north came leas 
regularly and were frequently delayed 
for months. 

The letters were the only bright 
spots in her life now and when they were 
long delayed she often found it difficult 
to avoid becoming altogether despondent. 

Finally, one morning when spring 
was just be^nning to gladden the face of 
nature once more, she received a letter 
from her cousin that she read with feel- 
ings of strong, tho mixed emotion. 

First she was furiously angry. 

Then she wept. 

Then she assumed a spartan attitude 
and dried her eyes. 

Finally she said aloud: ‘T’ll never 
believe it till I see it!” 

And immediately she began to pre- 
pare for a long journey, having first 
gone to the office and told the judge she 
— 20 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


must have an extended vacation, which 
had been granted cheerfully and instant- 
ly, the good old gentlman also insisting 
upon adding another hundred dollars to 
the salary check he handed her for the 
month which had just ended, ‘‘just for 
pin money,” he said. 


-o- 


- 21 — 


CHAPTER TWO 


The Wonders of The Inside Channel — 
Arrival At Skagway. 


We left Jim Ferris on board the 
steamer just pulling out of Seattle har- 
bor bound for the great unknown north 
of which he had heard so much and ac- 
companied by as many like himself as 
could possibly find accommodations- on 
the ship. 

The hold was packed full of baggage 
and supplies destined to be transported 
overland from Skagway, where they 
would disembark, to ‘‘somewhere in the 
— 22 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


insfde/’ and every available space be- 
tween decks had been filled with tempoi^ 
ary sleeping accommodations. 

There were men from every walk of 
life and of every conceivable profession 
and occupation: lawyers, doctors, clerks, 
laborers, teachers, even preachers (had 
beens), gamblers, railroad men, politi- 
cians, as motley an aggregation as is ever 
seen, and the like of which is never seen 
except on great stampedes of this kind. 
The vessel had backed out from the 
wharf, and, swinging slowly round, 
pointed her nose out into the blackness 
ahead, leaving the fast fading lights of 
ihe city behind like a vision of the past. 

Most of the voyageurs were busily 
arranging their effects in the limited 
space allotted to them for the voyage, 
and all were eagerly talking of the future 
— 23 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


and planning /^hat they were going to dtr 
when they arrived. 

Many, indeed were already spending" 
the gold they expected to find (in imagi-^ 
nation) on their return. 

Ere long the last lights of the city 
were swallowed up by the blackness and 
the few who had been watching them 
fade from sight, Jim among the rest, now 
turned their attention to their more im^ 
mediate surroundings. 

A stroll thru , the cabins revealed 
many groups in earnest conversation, 
with an occasinal card game already in 
progress, and a visit to the lower deck, 
where the bar was located, disclosed a 
hilarious crowd fast drowning dull care 
in liquid refreshments and concoctions, 
varied according to their individual tastes 
and inclinations. 


— 24 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


So far, none were actually intoxicat- 
ed and it was really but a pleasing scene 
of sociability, where every man met his 
neighbor upon an equal footing, regard- 
less of what he had, or had been in the 
past. 

The past was forgotten and left be- 
hind. 

They were all stampeders now and 
each man was as good as his neighbor^ 

Jim: watched the scene for a while 
from the outside of the circle of the im- 
mediate hostilities on old John Barley- 
corn, and then, not seeing any of his ac- 
quaintances in the crowd, finished his 
stroll thru the ship and finally, went out 
on deck alone, where he stood for a long 
time watching the shores creeping past 
in the dead silence, relieved only by the 
wash of the waves against the vessel's 
sides and the dull throbbing of the en- 
— 25 — 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 


gines, like the pulsations of a giant's 
heart, that seemed to make of the ship 
a thing of life. 

Broken clouds scurried across the 
sky, thru which the moon occasionally 
peeped out and flooded the scene with 
silvery light for a few moments, only to 
hide her face again in an instant like a 
child playing at hide and seek. 

The effect was one which could not 
but bring to the surface all that there 
was in a nian of the higher nature, and 
was stamped indellibly on his memory. 
In all the years of his wanderings thru 
the wilds he never forgot it, and the in- 
tervals of moonlight were to him like 
promises of better things for the future, 
while the intervening moments of dark- 
ness only served to HiP ind him that he 
must not expect too much or that every- 
— 26 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


thing would be smooth in his future 
path. 

Finally, weary with the day's exer- 
tions and his long vigil, he sought his 
stateroom, where he found his compam 
ions had already preceeded him and were 
deep in the slumber of men who are phy- 
sically tired, but have little of the ser- 
ious weighing upon their minds. 

He hastily disrobed and was soon 
wrapped in slumber also, tho his dreams 
were disturbed by visions of his sweet- 
heart in distress while he was powerless 
to assist her. 

Years after the thought of these 
dreams seemed almost like a prophetic 
vision. 

When he awoke next morning the 
sun was shining and he took a turn or 
two about the decks before going in to 
breakfast, the bracing salt air acting on 
— 27 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


him like a stimulant, so that he soon 
found himself with a ravenous appetite 
and did ample justice to the plain but 
substantial breakfast set before him. 

After breakfast he was joined by his 
companions who were to share his for- 
tunes on the ship and they at once began 
planning ways and means to transport 
their supplies when they had finished the 
journey by water, tho these plans were, 
like those of all the rest, subject to many 
revisions later. 

Unconsciously, by reason of the sta- 
bility of his nature, he soon assumed a 
sort of leadership, and these conversa- 
tions, which were frequently prolonged 
for a whole day, stopping only for meals, 
rvere held, at his suggestion in a sheltered 
nook on the upper deck from which they 
could obtain an unobstructed view of the 
- 28 -- 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


wonderful scenery thru which they were 
passing. 

On the second morning, when they 
awoke they found themselves in the Gulf 
of Georgia, which was for once like a sea 
of glass. 

The air was clear and a wonderful 
panorama of mountain views was con- 
stantly opening up to their gaze on the 
mainland side, (the right) with beautiful 
snow clad peaks and deep, dark canyons 
that opened to view for a short time and 
olosed again automatically like giant 
doors of fairyland as the ship moved on 
and changed their point of vision. 

The Rocky mountains, that great 
backbone of the continent, are visible all 
the way up the coast in clear weather, 
and the entire scene is one for an artist 
to rave about. 

Next morning they were up bright 
— 29 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


and early enjoying this scenery, which 
these kindred spirits seemed to find more 
entertaining than the various games of 
skill and chance afforded below to enter- 
tain those who were or could be induced 
to become, devotees at the shrine of the 
fickle goddess. 

In this way many of the argonauts 
of early days were mulcted of the money 
provided (oft-times by others) to enable 
them to make the balance of the trip af- 
ter leaving the steamer, and thus com- 
pelled — for not one of them would ever 
turn his back on the yellow nuggets he 
could already almost see in his poke— te 
go to work for others in order to get in at 
all 

But to get back to our story, they 
were now nearing the upper end of the 
gulf and the captain h.,d told them that 
Seymour Narrows, thru which they 
— 30 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


would soon pass was a sight worth see- 
ing, so they did not leave the deck this 
morning at all, for which they were re- 
warded along towards noon by the sight 
of the Narrows, where the tide currents 
race so fiercly that even today the most 
powerful ships cannot negotiate the pas- 
sage except at a certain stage of the tide. 

The vessel was obliged to lay to out- 
side the passage and await the time when 
the tide started to run in the direction 
they wished to go, and then was swept 
along with irrestible force, needing all 
her power to keep sufficient steerage way 
against the fierce cross currents that ed- 
dy and boil for a mile or more in the nar- 
rowest part. 

The narrows was negotiated safely, 
however, and they passed into that won- 
derful vista of island scenery that has 
— 31 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


since given rise to the slogan: ‘‘See 
America First.” 

In many places the channel seemed 
to have come to an end, and it really 
looked as if the captain was driving the 
ship straight onto the beach, when, just 
as their hearts began to beat and they 
thought something was really wrong, the 
steamer’s bow would suddenly begin to 
swerve to right or left and an instant la- 
ter the channel would open before her 
round a sharp curve that really required 
skillful seamanship to negotiate. 

Here and there along the shore was 
the tiny cabin of some hunter and occa- 
sionally an Indian village to break the 
monotony, but the vessel was fully loaded 
and bound thru and no stops were made 
at any of these places. 

This succession of one wonderful 
scene after another continued till it was 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


ioo dark to see that evening and by the 
time they went to bed they were begin- 
ning to feel the ground swell in the en- 
trance to Queen Charlotte Sound, where 
•the ship was practically out on the open 
Pacific. 

It is recorded that many of our ar- 
gonauts fed the fishes during the night 
as a pennance for their devotions at the 
shrine of Bacchus or the fickle goddess 
that presides over the gaming table, 
which kept them below decks till the ship 
had begun to roll to the full swell pf the 
open ocean, but this rolling only served 
to lull our hero into deeper slumber and 
wonderful dreams of sailing over a sea of 
liquid gold where the waves broke into 
spray over the rocks leaving them 
seamed with gold, or formed into nuggets 
on the sands of the beach. 

. When he awoke next morning the 
— 33 — 


LOVE'S CHOCKED PATH 


ship was again in still water and moving" 
along as smoothly as ever and he had to 
look out the window to convince himself 
that it was not all reality, but a drdam 
that he had had, so vivid had the im- 
pressions been. 

For days and days still this wonder- 
ful succession of natural panorama was 
continued, varied only twice by the cross- 
ing of Millbank sound and Dixon’s en- 
trance, two short stretches that are us- 
ually rough but only a few miles across. 

With these two exceptions there was 
nothing to mar the pleasure or break the 
monotony of the trip till they were off 
Valdez Glacier, when they passed thru a 
field of floating ice caused by the break- 
ing off of large pieces from the edge of 
the glacier, that the tide currents carry 
out into the channel, and at times^ make 
this spot decidedly dangerous for any 
— 34 — 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 


but a careful and experienced navigate*. 

At Valdez they stopped a few how» 
to land a few adventurers, led by an iM 
prospector who had been in before mA 
come out for supplies and who had detiaF- 
mined to go in this time by way of 
Stickeen river from the upper reaches ^ 
which they would cross the divide and 
down the Hootalinqua river to the poiaft 
where it joins the famous Thirty-liiSe 
river and forms the Lewis, which, furOiK 
er in joins with the Pelly river ^ to fom 
the Yukon. 

These adventurous spirits havTis 
been landed, with their effects, and 
byes and God speeds having been s&^ 
they were again away on their jouragr^ 
which was not again interrupted, mA 
finall5^ arrived in sight of Skagway. 

As the ship approached the landnsgr 
ihe captain pointed out to them the 
— — 35 — ~ 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


eiM&r formation of the mountain which 
.^separates that town from the now desert- 
inllage of Dyea. There are several deep 
ravines cutting down the face of the 
•mtjantain on the side facing the sea that 
Mfds the snow till very late in the season. 
suLd some seasons it does not disappear at 
edi. The peculiar thing about the moun- 
tain is that these ravines are so shapen 
that the snow held in them forms the let- 
ters the initials of the now famous 

Anctic Brotherhood, which are plainly 
distinguishable as far as the mountain 
tssn be seen and seem almost artificial in 
ffiieir reality. 

Of course at that early day the let- 
ters had no particular significance, but 
the formation was enough to cause com- 
ment from the time the first vessel en- 
fered the harbor up to the present day. 

In a few hours now they would be 


— 36 — 


L(JVE’S CROOKED PATH 


leaving the ship, that had been a hoane 
to them now for nearly three weeks, and 
all was bustle and excitement as they 
packed up their effects and prepared fear 
the landing. 

The lines were cast and the Ismt 
warped into position alongside the tegr 
wharf that juts out into the bay 
which was by now crowded with peo|de 
come down to hear the latest news from 
the outside world and welcome the new- 
comers. 

Members of the once famous Sosikt 
S mith gang were among those on 
wharf and more than one of those on the' 
ship fell victim to their arts before get- 
ting out of town, but our hero and his^ 
friends, one of whom had been in b^ore? 
and was wise to all the pitfalls that wcare 
spread for the feet of the unwary i» 
those days, were soon landed and at OEtee 
— 37 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


jsa^ted a camping ground and made ar- 
lamgements for receiving their freight. 

Having done this and arranged for a 
tffiKn to haul it (freight bills were all paid 
i® advance in those days on these outfits) » 
set about making camp and were 
fertunate enough to soon have their be- 
iengings under cover of their own tar- 
f^lins. 

The next thing was to arrange for 
^Kkers to help transport the goods to 
liho. shores of Lake Bennet, and leaving 
awe of their number to guard the camp, 
tiey set out on this errand. 


CHAPTER THREE 


The Trail — Building a Boat — The Trip 
Down the River to the Land of Gold 


Jim and his friends were more than 
ordinarily fortunate in their search for 
packers. 

Being two years ahead of the great 
stampede of '98, they had far less to con- 
tend with than did the argonauts of that 
time, for the reason that there were com- 
paratively very few people going in be- 
side those that had come on the same 
boat with them. 

Skagway was then but a little cluster 

of buildings of the more primitive type 
—39— 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


and a few tents, besides the temporary" 
shelters of the adventurers who were 
pioneering the trails to the great un- 
known land ‘‘inside.” 

They were fortunate enough to se- 
cure the services (for a price that a year 
later would have seemed ridiculous) of a 
score of Indian packers, who agreed ta 
transport their goods to the shores of 
Lake Bennett for “only fifty cents^ a 
pound.” 

This may sound like a fabulous price 
for carrying goods a distance of some- 
thing like forty miles, but when the 
difficulties of the trip, and the fact that 
there was practically no trail at that 
time, were considered, it was really very- 
reasonable indeed. 

They had been told that there was a 
much easier trail over the White Pass 
than over the Chilcoot, which was 
— 40 — 


more 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


used by the early adventurers, and was 
not entirely abandoned until several 
years later. 

Besides it was reported to be much 
less dangerous and not so much subject to 
heavy snow slides. 

These reasons had decided their 
landing at Skagway instead of at Dyea, 
where they would have had to land if 
they were to go over the Chilcoot. 

Having completed their arrange- 
ments, a few days later they set out, hav- 
ing arranged that one of their number 
should remain behind till the last load, 
which task Jim elected to accept himself^ 
while the other two would go on with the 
Indians until the last trip from tidewater. 

It was his first experience at pack- 
ing, and when he had gone a few miles 
with the 60 pound pack which fell to his 
lot, on his shoulders, he began to wonder 
—41— 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


how he was ever going to stand the baL 
ance of the trip. 

However, he took it easy and man- 
aged to keep within sight of the rest un- 
til near the end of the trip, and arrived 
about an hour behind them at a point 
near that upon which later stood the once 
famous White Pass City, where every- 
body rearranged their packs and cut 
down their loads, preparatory to the as- 
cent of the pass itself. 

Here the little party halted for the 
night, and for the next ten days travelled 
laboriously back and forth up and down 
the pass till they had landed the last 
pound at the summit, after which it was 
comparatively easy going to the shore of 
the lake, tho it was still more than three 
weeks before the last of the goods were 
landed on the bank, at a point not far 
from where Bennett Station now stands. 

— 42 -— 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


Here they made arrangements to re- 
main for some little time, as they must 
lioild quite a large boat to carry them- 
selves and their outfit, and the lumber to 
l>nild it must all be sawed by hand from 
what was now green standing timber. 

Whip-sawing lumber is slow work 
and none too easy, even for those who 
are used to it, but the boys were becom- 
ing somewhat inured to hard work by 
this time and did not mind it nearly so 
much as they would have done had this 
been their first task when they landed 
from the boat. 

W^hen at last they decided that they 
bad boards enough they set about build- 
ing a scow 24 feet long by about six feet 
wide and two and a half feet deep. 

They took their time and built the 
boat very strong, for the Indians had told 
—43— 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 

them about the ‘‘White Water'' the^ 
must pass. 

When at last she was finished and 
the seams all well tarred, they slid the 
hull into the water and then stepped a 
small mast and rigged a stout pair of 
oars, besides a powerful sweep at either 
end, the better to enable them to steer in 
swift water. 

Had the stampeders of '98 taken as 
much pains with their boats as did these 
pioneer adventurers, there would have 
been far less loss of life, but the first 
year there was much less evidence of 
haste, as but little was then known of 
the fabulous wealth to be discovered. 

Long before they had the boat 
finished there were several other parties 
camped near them, all engaged on the 
same task, and all these first year boats 
— 44 — 


LOVE'S CKOOKED PATH 

were built with far greater care than was 
given those of the later years. 

The author even saw one of these 
first year boats still in service and thoroly 
seaworthy only a few years ago. 

Finally the boat was pronounced 
complete and the outfit was loaded into 
it, every article being carefully stowed so 
as to make those needed on the trip easy 
of access and the rest as much out of the 
way as possible, and after a last good 
nights sleep on shore they set out. 

It was near the last of June and the 
sun never left the sky except to dip be- 
hind the hills for a short while about mid- 
night, and even then the sky would be 
filled with the sunset glow and the light 
strong enough for a person to read the 
jBnest print, so as long as the water was 
smooth they could travel night and day 
and sleep by turns in the boat. 

'- 45 — 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 


They had even set up a small camp 
stove in a box of sand, and provided a 
supply of wood, and could cook and eat 
they drifted along with the current after 
passing thru the lake. 

They had also persuaded two of tiie^ 
Indians, who knew the river, to acccHii- 
pany them till they were past the ‘'White 
Water'’ they had been told about and m 
this they were wise beyond their own cob- 
ceit indeed, as was amply evidenced by 
the wrecking of many of the boats that 
attempted to make the passage of ttie 
rapids without a pilot in later years. 

Travelling night and day it was nat 
long till the Indians told them they would 
“be in White Water pretty quick now,*^ 
and a few hours later they saw tte 
banks draw suddenly close together, and' 
almost before they knew it thej^ vferm 
entering Miles Canyon. ^ 

^6— I 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


Thra this they swept at a terrific 
speed, and when they came to the White 
Horse Rapids bekv\ they thot that their 
last hour had surely come, but the stolid 
Indians at the sweeps seemed to think 
nothing was wrong, so oar heroes soon 
gathered courage and began ' to look 
around them. 

The rapids at this time of year are 
really a wonderful sight, even from thh 
shores, let alone from their surface, and 
very few have passed thru them and haa 
time or opportunity to look around them 
at all, so in this respect they were esP- 
pecially favored owing to their foresight 
in having taken the Indians along. 

However, at the speed they were 
travelling it did not take but a few min^ 
utes to pass thru the rapids, and they 
were soon at the bank in the still waters 
below. , , 


- 47 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


From here on the Indians told them 
it would be easy sailing, with only a few 
bad spots to look out for, and so they 
were allowed to depart, well pleased with 
the way they had been treated and well 
paid for their labor. 

Next day our little party once more 
set out for the long trip down the river^ 
and that night sailed across Lake La- 
Barge, which they found decidedly 
rough, a high wind having been blowing 
during the day. 

Had the wind not gone down some 
hours before they entered the lake it is 
doubtful if there would have been any 
more of this story to tell, but the scow 
rode the dead swells nicely and tho their 
progress Was slow, they made the head of 
the Thirty Mile River without mishap. 

The balance of the trip down the 
river was necessarily slow and would be 
— 48 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


of no particular interest to our readers as 
so much has been previously written on 
the subject, so we will only add that with 
the exception of getting hung up on a 
sand bar here and there they had no fur- 
ther trouble and finally landed about two 
weeks later at the mouth of the Klondyke 
river. 

Here they found only a few cabins 
and concluded at once it could not be the 
place they had heard of, so pushed their 

boat from the bank in the eddy just be- 

♦ 

low the bluff and in front of what is now 
South Dawson, and headed out into the 
channel once more. 

Down past here they continued their 
journey; on past Fort Reliance, until 
they reached the mouth of the Forty 
Mile River, where they found a small 
settlement, and this they concluded, must 
be the El Dorado they had heard of, <a 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


not uncommon mistake in the first days 
of the great discovery) and pulled in to 
the shore just above the mouth of the 
smaller stream. 

Here they met several of the earlier 
pioneers, for this was the village known 
to the present time as Forty Mile, one of 
the very first gold camps in the entire in- 
side country. 

They were told of the reported new 
strike on the Klondyke river but as at 
first the old timers at Forty Mile were 
very skeptical of the value of the find 
they were persuaded to stay and stake 
there instead of making the laborious 
trip back up the river, which would have 
had to be made in poling boats and would 
require several trips to transport their 
outfit. 

There was still what was considered 
good ground open in the vicinity of the 
- 50 -- 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


camp and Jim and his friends concluded 
to stake there. 

The ground they selected was sever- 
al miles back from the Yukon, and by the? 
time they had lined their boat up the 
Forty Mile and landed their outfit after 
having spent several weeks prospecting: 
before they staked, it was getting time 
to think about building a cabin for the 
winter. 

This they did, taking great pains to 
make it as warm and comfortable as pos- 
sible and by the time the snow put in an 
appearance they were snugly housed. 

A supply of fuel was the. next thin^ 
with which they busied themselves and 
by the time the pile had assummed pro- 
portions satisfactory to them Chirstmas 
had come and gone and a new year was 
npon them. 

The ground was not deep where they 
— 51 — 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 

hs^ staked, ordinarily considered, and 
tii€y had put down several prospect holes 
before definitely deciding on the location^ 
so now they set to work to enlarge one of 
these to a suitable shaft and went to 
work to take out a dump of pay dirt from 
feed rock. 

The occasional pan which they 
Wished out in a tub in the cabin showed 
Mp very encouragingly and they were con- 
£dent of great "things when they should 
clean up m the spring. ^ 

It was not surprising, then, that 
when next they visited the village and 
beard of the additional strikes on the 
taeeks near where Dawson now stands, 
that they decided to stay with what they 
bfid rather than risk a trip to the new 
^camp to perhaps end in disappointment. 

In this they were not alone and 
TOiny of the oldest pioneers in the coun- 
— 52 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


try passed up the same chance, only to 
regret it later, as did also our friends. 

By the time spring had come and 
there was water enough available to 
clean up, they had out a pretty respect- 
able sized dump, which they estimated 
would clean up several thousand doHars 
at least, but when the last shovelful had 
been thown in and the final results 
cleaned up and weighed, they had only « 
trifle over twenty seven hundred 
lars — a little over nine hundred each. 

When they went down to the village^ 
with their dust they found it practlcTiSsr 
deserted and on enquiring the cause were 
told once more of the big news from tfee 
new camp and that this time it was a sare 
thing. 

Everybody that could possibly get 
away had gone and there were literaBiy 
thousands already in from the outsidc. 
-r-53— 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


They now regretted that they had not 
gone back in the first place or at least 
gone later when they first heard of the 
strike, but on the principle that it was 
better late than never they made prepar- 
ations to start at once and arrived a few 
days later, to find that a veritable city 
bad already sprung into existence. 

We will not weary the reader with 
useless details. 

Everybody in the place was literally 
crazed with the fabulous wealth of the 
strike and every foot of likely ground 
Tor miles had been staked. 

Of course there was much more 
staked on other streams later, but at this 
time some of the very best ground in the 
country according to later developments,, 
was considered worthless. 

The only thing Jim and his friends 
could do under the circumstances and 
— 54 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


with their limited capital, for their sup- 
plies were not going to last much longer 
and must be replenished at fabulous pric- 
es was to try to get a lay on as good a 
piece of ground as possible and work it, 
on a lay, or percentage of what they took 
out. 

This they did, and while they made 
what would today be considered fabulous 
sums for their, labor, it took about all 
they could make to keep even, owing to 
the enormous cost of supplies and neces- 
sary tools and equipment, - so that as 
soon as news was had of another strike 
they were off again in search of better 
luck. 

But fortune seemed always to elude 
their grasp. 

If there was a new creek struck they 
were either too late getting the news and 
it was all staked out, or if there was a 
— 55 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


blank in the creek and they staked at alL 
they drew it. - 

In this way several years went past 
and the trio finally separated, Jim going^ 
to Fairbanks, where he continued to labor 
with indifferent success for a time and 
then drifted again, first into the Iditarod 
country, and later on to the Kuskoquim. 

He had continued to write regularly 
to May till after he left the Iditarod coun- 
try, when he was so far from civilization 
most of the time that it was well nigL 
impossiJ)le to get mail in or out, and whiK 
he had been one of the very few that had 
not fallen by the wayside amid the wiles 
and temptations that were set before the 
early day miner he had always been re- 
spected and liked by these rough men of 
the Northland, for he was a man’s mian in 
every sense of the word. 

He continued to prospect the countr^r 
-— 56 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


to the north of the circle for over a year 
when he finally fell ill, hundreds of miles 
from the habitation of a white man. 

There were few Indians in the coun- 
try either, and it was only by the merest 
chance that a party of Indian hunters 
came across him when he was well nigh 
at the end of the sands of life. 

The Indians of the north are a 
friendly lot, and recognizing his malady 
made him as comfortable as possible for 
the trip and proceeded to carry him to 
their villoge, which required several days. 

Upon arrival there he was given the 
best of care their limited knowledge al- 
lowed, and was nursed night and day by 
two of the younger girls of the tribe, the 
chief's daughters, Wauna, the elder, and 
Nai-e-tah. 

For weeks he hovered between life 
and death, but the care he received to- 
— 57 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


gether with his wonderful constitution 
finally triumphed and he began slowly to 
mend. 

The sun was again high and the 
nightless days were upon the land when 
at last he could begin to walk a little, tho 
it had been midwinter when the Indians 
found him. 

By the time he felt strong enough to 
travel it was again late in the fall, and he 
was easily persuaded to remain where he 
was for the winter, the more especially so 
as he saw evidence that led him to believe 
he was in an exceptionally good fur bear- 
ing district, which the Indians assured 
him was correct, and told him he might 
hunt with them for the winter if he 
wished and go out to the trading post 
with them in the spring. 

He was minded, too, to have another 
good look at the place where the Indians 
—. 58 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


found him, as he had an indistinct re- 
membrance of having seen some very 
promising gravel in a certain creek and 
wanted to test it out. 


CHAPTER FOUR 


Jim Starts on a Trip and Makes a Discov- 
ery — At Last He Has Wealth Be- 
yond His Wildest Deams. 
Discouraging News 


When the sun began to get high in 
the heavens, Jim and a number of the 
Indians started one fine morning on the 
long trail to a trading post where Circle 
City now stands. 

They were well provided with food 
and had many skins to trade and were in 
high spirits. 

The days were now long enough to 
enable them to travel practically the 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


whole twenty- four hours and except 
where they had to portage over a fall or 
rapids they made excellent time. 

When they had travelled about two 
days the country began to look familiar to 
Jim and he asked the Indian if this was 
not near where they had found him. 

On receiving an affirmative reply he 
requested them to point out the exact 
spot, well knowing that the Indian had a 
sense of location that is far ahead of the 
white man's map. 

A couple of hours later the head ca- 
noe swung into the bank, quickly fol- 
lowed by the other two, and the Indians 
told him that the place he was looking 
for was but a short distance up the gulch, 
for they were at the mouth of a small 
tributary stream. 

As it was late in the afternoon they 
decided to make camp and give him a 

— 61 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


chance to look aound and hastily securing 
a pan, pick and short shovel which he had 
brought with him on the trip, our hero 
disappeared among the underbrush in the 
direction of the head of the creek. 

For some distance he saw nothing 
that seemed familiar, and was about to 
turn back, thinking it must have been a 
fancy of his brain due to the fever that 
had made him think about the promising 
looking gravel. 

He was tired from the exertions of 
the day and warmer still from his tram^ 
up the canyon, and was about to turn 
back when he espied a tiny cascade leap- 
ing down from the hillside a few rods, 
ahead, which promised a drink of ice 
cold spring water and hastened to it with 
his mind made up to return to camp as 
soon as he had satisfied his thirst. 

He drank long and deeply out of the 
— 62 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


pool and was about to rise, for he had 
lain full length on the ground to drink 
fromi the pool, which was a foot or more 
below the level of the banks, w^hen, as he 
straightened up, the edge gave way un- 
der his hands. 

When he had once more regained his 
feet he glanced down at the spot, and 
what he saw made him stoop quickly for 
a closer examination. 

The soil was mostly gravel and haa 
been undermined by the water, so that 
his weight had caused it to break away 
at the edge, as noted above, and in the 
fresh gravel of the break he saw not one 
but many colors and several small nug- 
gets of gold. 

He hastily washed several pans of 
the gravel, getting good pay in every one 
of them and was so busy at his work that 
he did not note the passage of time till it 
— 63 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


began to get too dark to see without 
difficulty, by which he knew it must be 
after eleven o’clock, so hastily gathering 
up the gold he had washed out and cov- 
ering up the place with brush and stones 
he made his way back to camp. 

Most of the Indians had stretched 
but for the night and after getting a bite 
to eat Jim also rolled up in his blanket 
and was soon sound asleep. 

Bright and early they were away 
next mjorning, for Jim had said nothing 
to the Indians about his find, and in due 
time reached Circle City, then a mere 
trading post. 

The furs were soon exchanged for 
necessities of life and Jim found a letter 
that had awaited his arrival many 
months, from one of his Dawson ac- 
quaintances. 

Among other things the letter told 
— 64 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


him was that Perry Saunders, whom he 
hnew as a cousin of May North, his 
.sweetheart, had been in town, and had 
inquired for him, saying he had some 
news he knew Jim would be glad to hear. 
Pressed for details he told his listeners 
that he was going back outside as his 
cousin had married a rich miner who had 
recently come out and wanted him to 
come and make his home with her. 

Jim knew that May had always had 
a soft spot in her heart for Perry, whom 
5he regarded as unfortunate, while the 
truth was he was a neer-do-well in every 
sense of the word, but was slick enough 
to keep the truth from her and had man- 
aged to secure many a dollar of her hard 
earned money to spend with his sporting 
friends. 

However, in the absence of any letter 
from May herself, he could not help 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


thinking there might be some truth in 
the story, and as he really could not 
blame her for giving him up after all 
these years, he finally made up his mind 
to make the best of a bad bargain and go 
back when the Indians returned, as far 
as the mouth of the creek he had noted 
and open up his claim. 

He had not staked when there, which 
he now regretted as lie did not expect to 
return so soon and had no fear of any one 
else stumbling onto his discovery, but he 
finally concluded it was just as well as it 
would only have caused a stampede if he^ 
had recorded and he was not yet sure it 
was anything more than a mere pot hole,. 

He converted all his dust into sup- 
plies and a few days later was on his 
way back with his Indian friends. 

On the way he told them of his find 
and bargained with three of them to re 
-— 66 — ' - 


LOVE’S CPwOOKED PATH 


main with him and assist him in his 
work, for the Northern Indian is a fairly 
good worker, and this they readily con- 
sented to do as it was only about two 
days distant from their village, the In- 
dian measuring distances in days instead. 
of miles. 

When they arrived at the mouth of 
the little creek Jim and his three Indians 
assisted the rest to unload the supplies 
and pulled their canoe, for one was to be 
left them, well above the high water 
mark on the bank, concealing it among 
the underbrush so as not to arouse the 
curiosity of any chance passers, and 
then, selecting a camp site near the spot 
where Jim had made his discovery thejr 
proceeded to build a substantial cabin. 

Ihis accomplished, they moved the 
supplies into it and a few days later- 

started to work in real earnest. 

— 67 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


While the Indians had been busy 
building the cabin Jim had climbed to the 
top of the hill from whence the little cas- 
cade had first attracted his attention, 
fell, and traced the stream to its source, 
which proved to be a small lake among 
the hills further back, thus furnishing a 
practically inexhaustible supply of water 
at all seasons of the year except, of 
<;ourse, when the frost King reigned 
:supreme. 

Thus nature had eliminated the 
greater part of the work that usually falls 
to the' lot of the placer miner, the getting 
of a sufficient head of water onto his 
claim at a height above the level of the 
ground sufficient to make it available for 
,sliiicing purposes. 

Jim at once staked the water rights 
as well as a claim, in order that he might 
he protected in case a chance prospector 
— 68 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


should drop in on him before he had time 
to visit the post once more. 

Within a few days the Indians, with 
his assistance and direction, had con- 
structed a substantial flume to v the spot 
where they intended to commence opera- 
tins and Jim had sunk several small 
holes to bed rock, which he found at a 
depth of from four to seven feet, and 
one morning less than a month from the 
day they landed, they commenced ta 
shovel dirt into the boxes, for Jim was 
convinced there was pay from the grass- 
roots down, and later developments 
proved that he was right. 

When they had shoveled in for a lit- 
tle over a day and a half they stopped ta 
clean up, as they would have to move the 
boxes slightly before continuing opera- 
tions, and Jim was not a little surprised 
at the amount of gold recovered from the 
— 69 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


comparatively small space they had 
worked. 

Later developments proved they had 
only been in the edge of the pay streak 
and the ground to the right and nearer 
the bed of the stream was very much 
richer. However, they had proved that 
it was no pot-hole but a real strike of the 
richest kind of pay gravel. The gold was 
much of it very coarse and usually the 
nuggets were flat and of many curious 
shapes, having the appearance of having 
been melted and run in among the gravel. 

Mhey continued their labors till flur- 
ries of snow warned them of the approach 
of winter, when Jim set two of the In- 
dians to work getting up a supply of 
wood and he and the others busied them- 
selves cleaning up and preparing for the 
next season’s operations, which would 
— 70 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


require a lot more flume and new riffles 
in the sluice boxes. 

By the time all this was done winter 
was upon them in earnest, and a few days 
later they heard the merry jingle of bells 
and the old chief and his two daughters^ 
the ones who had nursed Jim thru his ill-_ 
ness, were at the door. 

They brot with them a plentiful sup- 
ply of excellent meat they had killed on 
the way, and as Jim and his Indians had 
been too busy to hunt much, their diet 
had necessarily been confined principally 
to bacon and beans, which made the fresh 
meat doubly welcome indeed. 

The chief and his daugters remained 
for several days and when they returned 
Jim had been persuaded to accompany 
them and assist in preparing an expedi- 
tion to the outer world that he had ar- 
ranged with the chief to make during 
— 71 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


the winter in order to bring in fresh sup- 
plies and tools. 

Jim also had to go and record his 
claim, which he had already delayed far 
too long, so after a month of prepara- 
tion they set out once more, this time 
with a number of extra dog teams and 
toboggans, quite a party of them, in fact. 

In due time they reached the trading 
post and were soon surrounded by a score 
of eager listeners as Jim told of his find. 

He had recorded his claim and each 
of the Indians had also filed on one, and 
when, he had purchased his new outfit 
and paid for it with coarse nuggets, 
there were plenty who wanted to start at 
once for this new El Dorado. 

But Jim was in no hurry, well know- 
ing that it would be impossible for any- 
one to find the place, especially in the 

winter, without some one to guide them. 

— 72 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


His Indians were camped some little 
distance away from the post and the en- 
tire outfit was packed down to their 
camp, but they seemed in no hurry t<v 
start. 

Jim hung around the post most of 
the time, occasionally walking down to 
the Indian’s camp for a stroll, until one 
night a heavy storm set in and in the 
morning Jim and the Indians had both 
disappeared., 

The snow had obliterated all traces 
of their trail and the disappointed ones 
could only wait now till the storm abated 
and trust to luck to find the right creek. 

They had, of course, certain direc- 
tions to go by that Jim had been obliged 
to give the recorder in filing his claim, 
but these alone were not sufficient in that 
wild and unsurveyed country, to enable 
them to find the place without consider- 
able difficulty. 

— 73 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


So they had to be content to wait, 
for Jim had told them it was foolish for 

i 

any of them to go into that country in 
the winter, and that as soon as the river 
opened in the spring he would place u 
mark on the bank of the Yukon that 
would enable them to locate the place 
without trouble. 

He was willing they should come and 
share his good fortune, but did not want 
them to come in the middle of winter 
when they would undergo , many hard- 
ships and accomplish no more than if 
they waited, and went in the spring. 

It was not long to wait, for the win- 
ter was already far gone, and when finally 
the river broke up and ran clear there 
was quite a little fleet of boats in readi- 
ness for the trip, and much better pro- 
visioned and prepared than they would 
— 74 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


have been had they been allowed to go 
with Jim and his Indians a couple of 
months earlier. 



'w75— 


CHAPTER FIVE 


The New Camp — Jimtown, in Honor of 
The Man Who Made the Strike. A 
Man Among Men. — A 
Stranger in Camp. 


Jim having successfully eluded the 
would-be stampeders, took his time on 
the balance of the journey and arrived 
in due time at his claim, where the In- 
dians and dogs were given a much .. need- 
ed rest, for they had been heavily loaded 
and the trip was a hard one at the best. 

Having rested up they continued on 
to the village where Jim visited with the 
— 76 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


chief for a few days and settled for the 
use 'Of the dogs and paid off the Indians, 
paying them full wages for all the time 
they had been absent from the village. 

Both the chief and his daughters 
were glad to see him, for Jim had spent 
considerable tim^e in teaching them Eng- 
lish and in other ways had won their last- 
ing regard. 

The girls had made him a complete 
outfit of skin clothing during his absence, 
and this, together with several pairs of 
handsomely beaded moccasins they pre- 
sented him with before he had even a 
chance to tell them that he had brought 
them anything. 

When he had rested, however, he 
opened up the pack on his toboggan, and 
presented the old chief with a handsome 
new meerschaum pipe with an amber 
l)itt, the only one in stock at the trading 
— 77 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 
post, and a quantity of tobacco, and each 
one of the girls with a handsome new 
shawl (about the only thing in the way 
of women’s apparel that could be pur- 
chased in that section of the country at 
the time). Their delight knew no bounds 
and our hero felt well repaid by the 
pleased expression on their faces. 

After a few days’ visit Jim and his 
three '‘boys” set out on the return trip, 
and had not been at home many day» 
when signs of spring began to make 
themselves manifest and ere long the 
water was running freely down the moun- 
tains, for the snow melts rapidly in these 
northern latitudes. 

They h^d been again at work but a 
few days when a loud halloo startled 
them one evening as they sat at supper, 
and a few minutes later they were sur- 
rounded by the eager throng of prospect- 
— 78 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


ors, of whom we spoke at the close of the 
Jast chapter. 

There was a baker’s dozen of them, 
all told, and they were soon busy looking 
over the ground and staking their claims. 

Next, day, being so far from a re- 
cording offi(^e, one of their number was 
appointed an emergency recorder and the 
claims were all duly filed, and in a very 
few days a little city had begun to spring 
up around Jim’s cabin, for those whose 
claims were not too far distant gladly 
availed themselves of his generous per- 
mission to build on his claim, which was 
the only level ground for a mile in either 
direction. 

Besides it would be more companion- 
able to thus group the cabins than place 
them singly on the nearby claims. 

Before a month had passed another 
party had arrived and by the time tht. 

— 79 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


summer was over there was a store, a sa- 
loon, a dance hall and over a hundred 
people where only a little over a year ago 
all was wilderness. 

The following spring a bank and a 
post office were added to the little town 
and the population had increased to tiear- 
ly two hundred. 

The ground was not all as rich as 
that where Jim had staked, tho there was 
good pay all the length of the creek, and 
everybody was doing well, 

Jim having been first on the ground 
the town was named after him, Jim-town, 
and by common consent all disputes were 
brought to him for settlemenf, for he was 
known as one of the squarest men that 
ever m,ushed a northern trail. 

He would fraternize with the boys 
and have a good time, but would neither 
drink nor gamble, an unusual thing for 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 
any man in that country. 

He would buy a drink for the rest 
when it was his turn to treat, but would 
always take a cigar himself, yet no man 
presumed to deride him. 

In short, he was in every sense of 
.the word, ‘'a man among men.'' 

He was rich, now, and had no need to 
work, yet he labored every day as hard as 
any of those whom he paid a liberal wage 
to assist him, side by side, now with an 
Indian and again with a white man, for 
he now had many men in his employ and 
his deposits at the little bank were the 
heaviest in the town. 

Finally late in the fall, after the 
work had all shut down for the coming 
winter and everything was made snug, 
he determined to go on a hunting trip 
with the chief and one or two of the tribe, 
and after making arrangements for a 

prolonged absence, set out alone one 
— 81 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


morning for the Indian village, having^ 
told no one of his intentions except that 
he was going hunting and did not know 
when he would be back. 

Considerable snow had fallen and’ 
there was a well broken trail to the In- 
dian village, so that his dogs, which were* 
one of the finest teams in that part of 
the country, a gift from the old chief,, 
whisked him along at a rapid pace. 

With an unbroken trail it was a good’ 
two days trip to the village, but with the* 
trail well broken and such a team as he 
drove he made the village easily a little- 
after dark, having gotten an early start;. 

The chief was notorious for never be- 
ing in a hurry, a characteristic trait of all 
the Indians in the north, and it was sev- 
eral days later when the little party set 
out. 

Where they were going Jim had not 
— 82 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


the faintest idea, being content to trest 
to the Indian's superior knowledge of te 
country and of the haunts of the game; 

The chief had promised him that her 
would take him where the sheep aj;dl 
cariboo were as thick as cattle in a far®- 
er’s barnyard and Jim was content 
wait and see. 

And see he did. 

It is a well known fact, that the cm- 
iboo run in immense herds across 
country every fall, but where they comer 
from or go to, no one seems to have 
faintest idea. 

The white man in that country wiK 
go out for many days at a time aati 
think himself lucky to come back w% 
one or two animals to his credit, yet 
Indian always finds plenty of game amf 
seems to get it easily and in immense 
quantities. 


— 83 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


Sure enough, after several days 
teavel in a northeasterly direction, they 
f^ine one morning upon a herd of carK 
as tame as ordinary cattle and so 
irisiiy of them that they covered the en- 
floor of the valley, as they nuzzled 
In the snow for the moss on which they 
•jfeei. 

But when Jim raised his riflle to 
aboot one the old chief grasped his arm 
intim;ated that there was “plenty 
mme better game’' further on. These 
Uiey could get any time. 

So they left these poor animials in 
l^ce and continued their journey, and 
next day, late in the afternoon were re- 
warded by a sight such as is seldom if ev- 
«r seen by a white man. 

They had climbed to the higher levels 
adl day and were now in what the Indians 
^designate as the sheep country, and there 
— 84 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


were thousands of them seen before tbe 
trip was over. 

Sheep, that is the Mountain sheep of 
the north, do not travel in herds like tlie 
cariboo, but here they were really tMe*^ 
In many places there would be twenty in 
sight at once and wherever you went ycm: 
found more of them. 

Jim wondered more than once why 
the chief did not let him shoot any, bst ai 
couple of days later he found out. 

The animals were very tame acbd 
could easily be driven in a general direc- 
tion and having got around to a certama 
point the Indians spread out and eoi»- 
menced to gently force the sheep in the 
direction from which they had come. 

This was continued for several dsyir 
and when at last they had reached the 
point at which the old chief gave the 
nal for the slaughter to commence, Jieei 
-^ 85 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


faind th!at they were in a position to have 
& tiown hill haul all the way back to the 
wiJage. 

In a few hours they had killed all 
They could possibly haul on their tobog- 
gsns and they then made camp and 
dsessed the meat, packing it onto the 
toboggans while still warm. 

In this way it will ride much better 
aid being a less bulky load, is also easier 
T© handle, than if first allowed to freeze 
isari then loaded. 

They had been out nearly three 
imeks, and had not killed a thing, except 
fer their immediate necessities until to- 
adiiy. 

Having got all the meat dressed land 
pix^ked on the toboggans they had a good 
nights sleep and once more resumed their 
Jon-ney, arriving at the village by a much 
a^rter route and in far less time than it 
*— 86 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


took them to make the out-going trip. 

Upon their arrival there was, of 
course, the usual feasting and general re- 
joicing over the successful hunt, and 
much queer dancing and chanting to pro- 
pitiate the spirits of the “White Land,^' 
who are supposed to guard the game. 

Jim, of course could not leave till all 
this was over and it was nearly a week 
later when preparations were made fo 
start on the morrow for Jimtown, where 
the Indians expected to sell their surplus 
of meat. 

But when the morrow came it brot 
with it such a blizzard as is seldom seen 
even in this part of the world. 

For five more days it continued, and 
to have ventured out in it would have 
been folly, even for the Indians. 

When at last it was over, thqy start- 
ed, but the previous well beaten trail was 
-^ 87 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


now entirely obliterated and it was slow 
work indeed. 

The trip took them four full days^ 
and then they arrived late at night, the 
heavy toboggans at times requiring the 
united strength of the entire party to 
assist the dogs to get thru some of the 
drifts. 

Game being scarce in the immediate 
vicinity and none of the miners having 
met with even average success, their ar^ 
rival was hailed with delight by the en-^ 
tire village, as meat had already been a 
scarce commodity for several days before 
their arrival. 

During their absence another little 
party had arrived at the village, one of 
them a woman, and evidently a very sick 
woman at that, and there having been no* 
other place available, she had been placed 
in Jim’s dabin. 


— 88 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


She was plainly in serious need of 
attention and the best of care, and while 
these rough miijers would willingly have 
done anything in their power they were 
utterly at a loss to know what to do in 
this case. 

Naturally this was the very first 
thing put up to Jim on his return and he 
Instantly despatched one of the Indians 
after the Chief’s daughters, Wauna and 
Nai-e-tah, who had so successfully nursed 
him thru his own illness. 

The Indian was instructed not to 
spare the dogs but to get the girls to Jim- 
town as quickly as possible, and consid- 
ering the condition of the trail the fact 
that he made the round trip in three days 
was ample evidence that he had not tar- 
ried by the wayside. 

Jim had found the woman in a high 
fever and being cared for turn about by 
-~ 89 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


two of the dance hall girls, who, tho they 
were willing enough, had entirely too 
limited a knowledge of nursing to be of 
any practical use, so he was much re- 
Keved when the chief’s daughters ar- 
rived. 

He arranged to give over his cabin 
entirely to the three women, and provided 
every luxury and delicacy that the limit- 
ed stock at the little Jimtown store afford- 
ed, and the squaws certainly did wonders 
in the way of nursing, but it was many 
weeks, and spring was once more causing 
the face of nature to wear a smile ere the 
patient was pronounced convalescent and 
was able to sit up in a rustic easy chair 
of Jim’s own construction, and made es- 
pecially for her benefit against this very 
moment. 

At last the day arrived and she was 
placed in the open dooV robed in light but 
— 90 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


warm skins and reclining in the chair like 
a figure of wax, her face still devoid of ali 
color. 

Jim came laround shortly to offer his 
congratulations on her recovery, and 
jiassed a few pleasant words with her, 
thinking to himself at the time that she 
reminded him of someone, and went 
whistling on his way, thankful that he 
had been able to be of any assistance to 
her in her distress. 

And that was all. 



— 91 — 


CHAPTER SIX 


An Interesting Journey — Reforming m 
Drunkard — News of Jim at Last , 


We left May North, shortly after her 
mothers's death, hastily preparing for a 
long journey, after having received a let- 
ter from the north that contained some 
news that she was decidedly loath to be- 
lieve 

There was nothing to keep her here 
now, why should she not go wherever she 
wished, and where did she wish more to 
go than to the place where her lover was? 

— 92 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


Thus she reasoned to herself as she 
packed the few necessiaries she intended 
taking along and by the time she was 
ready to sail she had thoroly convinced 
herself that it was the proper thing to do. 

She had told no one of her intentions^ 
not even the good old judge, who was real- 
ly the only one whose interest in her gave 
him (any right to know anything at all of 
her movements, out as she did not be- 
lieve the story that was causing her such 
a heartache, she could not bring herself 
to repeat it to the best friend they both 
had on earth. 

So she silently stole aboard the 
steamer when the hour for sailing ar- 
rived, unknown to all the rest of the pas- 
sengers and without a single friend to see 
her off or wish her a pleasant voyage and 
a safe return. 

— 93 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


All about her was noise and bustle 
as is usual on such occasions, and as the 
lines were thrown off and the ship slowly 
began to move out into the harbor and 
away from the lights of the city, she 
stood alone on the deck and watched the 
lights fade into the darkness one after an- 
other and it seemeed as if the light was 
going out of her life with them. 

How long she stood thus with a feel- 
ing of utter lonliness gripping her heart- 
strings, she could never have told, but» 
finally, roused from her reverie by the 
passing of a steamer in the opposite di- 
rection, she turned and made her way 
slowly into the cabin and to the room as- 
signed her, which was now all the home 
she had on earth. 

There was a jolly party (aboard, and 
she was gradually drawn into acquaint- 
anceship with several of those who were 
— 94 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


going inside, some of whom had only 
been out a short time, and in this way 
was enabled to learn much that she de- 
sired to know. 

Among other things that came to her 
ears in these conversations was one that 
did much to lighten her heart, for one of 
the party had known Jim in Dawson and 
spoke of him in terms of warmest praise, 
tho at the same time pronouncing him the 
most unlucky dog unhung. 

She did not wish to let strangers in- 
to her secret, so silently stole away to 
her room when she heard this, but it did 
much to lighten her load in the long 
months to follow. 

All things have an end they say, and 
so it was with the voyage, which in spite 
of the pleasant company, seemed almost 
interminable. 


— 95 — 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 


At last she was once more on land^ 
and as the railroad was now in operation, 
at once took passage for White Horse 
over the famous White Pass & Yukon 
road. 

She seemed to feel better now that 
she was getting nearer to Jim and really 
enjoyed the wonderful scenery as the 
train wound its way slowly over the 
great White Pass and down thru the val- 
ley on the other side, and when they 
stopped for lunch at Bennett, she did am- 
ple justice to the plain but wholesome 
meal. 

When the train pulled into White 
Horse a boat had been awaiting its arriv- 
al for several hours and as soon as the 
passengers and mail could be transferred 
was to sail for Dawson, so she did not 
have long to stay at that point, which 
exactly suited her mood. 

— 96 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


She hastily got her hand baggage 
aboard the boat and was assigned a rooiri 
before most of the others had gotten 
away from the train, and then sat down 
on deck to watch the crowd. 

There seemed to be a fascination for 
her already in the mannerisms of these 
people and she wondered if it was the 
same with everyone. 

She had not long to await the arrival 
of her fellow passengers, however, and 
before they were all aboard the bell rang 
for the evening meal. 

She entered the dining roonv more 
from force of h^bit than otherwise, and 
was somewhat surprised to find that she 
wias really hungry after all, the clear, 
bracing air of the north having already^ 
begun to affect her appetite. 

Before she had finished eating the 
boat was under way, and when she went 
— 97 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


x)ut on deck she was agreeably surprised' 
at the beauty of the scenery thru whichir 
she was passing. 

It was early in June and the days' 
were hardly to be told from the nights,- 
and she sat watching the scenery till the 
boat was well into the Thirty Mile River,- 
BO completely wrapped in her thots that 
she had not noticed the others leaving the 
deck, nor would she then have noted the 
hour had she not risen and passed thm^ 
the cabin to the opposite side of the boat 
to get a better view. 

As she passed thru the cabin she was • 
astonished, on glancing hi the clock, 
see that it was nearly morning. 

At first she would not believe the^ 
clock was right, but the night steward 
chanced to pass at the moment and in*- 
formed her in reply to her queries, that it 
was really past two in the morning. 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 

said May, ‘*it hiasn’t l)eai 
night at all yet. Don't it ever get darfc 
here?" 

On being told that it did not, in the 
months of June and July, she began io 
realize that she was really in the north at 
last. 

The steward suggested a cup of tea 
and ahe was again surprised to find she 
was ravenously 'hungry. 

After eating a lunch she decided to 
retire, tho she really felt as if she would 
rather have staid up to watch the scenery, 
which was truly wonderful to her, but 
she realized that she must have some 
sleep. 

When she awoke late next day the 
steamer was approaching the far famed 
Five Finger Rapids, so she dressed has- 
tily and got out on deck to see the sights. 

They reached the rapids just before 
— 99 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


darner and the thrills she got as the 
steamer shot thru between the high walls 
mf rock, so close that she almost could 
tmch them on either side it seemed, were 
enough, she thot, to last her a lifetime. 

They were quickly thru the angry 
waters and an hour later were tied up at 
Yiikon Crossing, so named because it is 
fcere that the stages cross the ice-chained 
xiYer in the winter. Here, too is located 
mse of the few telegraph offices on the 
line between White Horse and Dawson. 

A few hours later, she was told, they*' 
would pass thru another very bad piece 
of water, known as Hell’s Gate, where 
there ^e many channels, only one of 
which, however can be navigated by any 
but the smallest skiffs except at extreme 
high water, and then only with, very 
gfieat danger and by one who knows 
Ibe river, while the one safe channel is 
— 100 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


of such a nature as to strike terror to tlic 
heart of any but an experienced river naT- 
igator. This sight, too, she was detenuin- 
ed not to miss, so climbed to the uppcar 
deck as the boat swung out from the bank 
and seated herself comfortably where she 
could command a practically unobstrisct- 
ed view from all sides, and at once set- 
tled down to enjoy herself with day- 
dreams of the future while she watched 
the shores slip silently past like a movingr 
panorama, for it all seemed too uttei^ 
beautiful to be other than a picture. 

She hardly realized when the boat at 
last swung into the dangerous channel, so 
completely was she occupied with the 
scenic beauties around her, but when she 
suddenly found the boat apparently head- 
ed straight for the rocky bluff but a 
stone’s throw ahead, while the frail ves- 
sel trembled from stem to stern under tlie 
- 101 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


full power of the engines, it niade her 
catch her breath for an instant — ^but, like 
a thing of life the staunch little craft, just 
as it was about to crash on the rocks to 
all appearances, suddenly swerved sharp- 
ly to the right and swept by the point of 
the bluff so close that it almost seemed 
she could have jumped from, the deck to 
the rocks as they swept past, after which 
the boat was almost instantly in quiet 
water again and a few minutes later was 
nosing gently in to the bank at the Indian 
village and trading post known to this day 
as Fort Selkirk, tho it bears small re- 
semblance to anything military except for 
one or two lonesome members of the fam- 
ous Canadian Northwest Mounted Police 
stationed there. 

Here they were to take on wood and 
she decided to take a stroll on shore with 
— 102 — 


LOVE’S CBOOKED PATH 


the rest, as they would be here for over 
an hour. 

She found much to interest her in the 
village, and was particularly interested in 
the store kept by a white man with a na- 
tive wife. 

She made several small purchases 
more for the sake of getting into conver- 
sation with the squaw than anything else 
and was somewhat surprised at the 
intelligence she displayed. 

But the rest were making their way 
back to the boat and she must also go or 
be left behind, so she bade them goodbye 
and went aboard once more. 

The boat swung out into the stream 
a few minutes later and they were again 
<on their way. 

She did not realize that the day was 
;already gone, nevertheless when the bell 
— 103 — 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 


rang for supper a little later she was one 
of the first to reach the table. 

What could be coining over her, she 
wondered. She had never eaten like this 
before in all her life that she could re- 
member. 

She dismissed the thot as not worth 
worrying over, however, and proceeded to 
do justice to the meal, concluding that 
the climate must agree with her, as her 
appetite could certainly not be attributed 
to exercise. 

After the meal was over she again 
went on deck, but this time was careful 
to watch the time more closely, and re- 
tired early, determined not to be again 
fooled by the nightless days into sitting 
up all night. 

When she retired she could not go 
immediately to sleep. 

This was to be her last night on the 
— 104 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


boat, for next day they would be in 
Dawson. 

Would she be able to find Jim, she 
v/ondered. 

What was he doing and where was 

he? 

As each revolution of the wheel pro^ 
pelled her nearer to him she could not 
help wondering what the outcome of her 
trip was to be. 

And wondering, she fell asleep. 

In her dreams she saw him, but al- 
ways he seemed far away, intangible, 
out of her reach, and strive as she would 
she could not seem to be getting any clos- 
er to him. 

There were native women around 
him, too, yet he did not seem to be con- 
nected with them in any way. 

But their presence worried her. 

Could it be true, she wondered? 

— 105 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


Again he seemed to be sick or 
wounded, perhaps dying. 

And the squaws were nursing him. 

And tho he seemed indifferent, yet 
he always had a smile for them. 

Why did he not send for her to nurse 
him ? 

Why could she not get to him? 

And so she struggled with the phan- 
tasy of dreams till the bell rang for break- 
fast. 

She felt tired. 

She had slept but she had not rested. 

She arose and after bathing her face, 
neck and shoulders in the cool water felt 
somewhat refreshed, but not till she had 
taken several turns up and down the deck 
did she feel equal to breakfast. 

Once down at the table, however, 
her appetite returned with full force and 
— 106 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


vigor and she did ample justice to the 
tasty breakfast set before her. 

The scenery from here down to Daw* 
son not being particularly attractive, she 
spent the most of the time reading, except 
a short while when the boat made a land* 
ing at Stewart City, near the mouth of 
the river of chat name. 

She had not mixed much with her 
feliow passengers on the trip down the 
river tho she longed to ask further ques- 
tions of the party she had heard mention 
Jim, but feared they would thmk her un- 
ladylike if she evinced too much interest 
in their conversation, and was a little dis- 
appointed when they left the boat at this 
point, as they were bound up the Stewart 
river on a prospecting trip. 

Thus it was that she landed in Daw- 
son that night without a single acquaint- 
ance to whom she could turn, a somewhat 
— 107 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


unusual thing, for most people on this 
trip become very well acquainted indeed. 

She went at once to a hotel, and af- 
ter taking a room set out to see the town 
and also to see if there was any prospect 
for work whereby to eke out her already 
slim purse while conducting her search 
for the man whose reputation she had 
come north to defend. 

She walked about the streets for 
some time, and finally, feeling hungry, 
entered a restaurant and sat down at a 
table near the cashier's desk. 

She had not yet finished her meal 
‘when she overheard a conversation, be- 
tween the propretor and one of the wait- 
ers that made her her beat quicker at 
once. 

They were short of help and the 
waiter was complaining that the work 
— 108 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


was too much for the number there were 
to do it. 

The proprietor, on the other hand, 
seemed willing to employ more help, but 
insisted that he Was unable to procure 
any. 

When she went up to settle her bill. 
May, being a thoro little business woman 
and not afraid of work, tho this was some- 
thing she had never done in her life, 
asked for work, and was more than 
pleased with the ready acceptance of her 
services at a salary that seemed to her at 
the time, unaccustomed as she was to 
prices in the north, little short of fabu- 
lous, tho she later found the wages small 
enough indeed. 

The proprietor was a shrewd busi- 
jaess man and instantly realized the asset 
he had acquired, and made the most of it 
by installing her at the cashier’s desk, 
— 109 — 


LOVE'S GROOKED PATH 


with charge of that end of the luncJh 
counter as well. 

This arrangement also made her la- 
bor less arduous and gave her the added 
advantage, from her point of view, of get- 
ting somewhat acquainted with all ^he 
patrons of the place, and surely, sbe thot, 
some day she would in this way able to 
get track of Jim. 

She had brought her typewriter with 
her and a few days later had it instaHea 
at her desk, where she proceeded to utilize 
it in nfbakirig copies of the menu, which 
had hitherto been written by hand. 

This not only pleased her employer, 
but also brot her many letters to write in 
her spare time, which added very mater^ 
ially to her income, and ere she had been 
a month in Dawson she was earning 
enough to enable her to begin to save a 
little. 

— 110 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


She heard nothing of Jim, however, 
till well along in the winter, when a 
chance remark, dropped by a prospector 
who had come in from the country around 
Fairbanks, which was getting its share 
of attention now as a camp, led her to be- 
lieve he had been there but had again 
struck out further north. 

Meantime among the occasional pat- 
rons of the place, was one in whom she 
seemed to feel a strange interest. 

Lucky Joe, they called him, but it 
seemed to May that the most of his luck 
consisted in being able to keep his system 
thoroly saturated with hootch most of 
the time. 

When Sober, he was really a fine fel- 
low, well educated and refined, and an en- 
tertaining conversationalist, and she felt 
sure he came of a good family who 
— 111 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


would indeed mourn if they could see him 
now. 

He always stopped to chat with her 
when he paid his bill, and she had more 
than once taken him seriously to task 
for his bibulous habits, which, in his sober 
moments, he seemed honestly to regret. 

Gradually she seemed to establish a 
motherly interest in him and his lapses 
from strict sobriety became less frequent. 

She really began to think that she 
was going to succeed in reforming him„ 
and when some of the other patrons of 
the place began to jolly her about him 
told them so. 

But his acquaintances who knew him 
of old only laughed at the idea and set 
themselves to see to it that she was unde- 
ceived. 

But every fresh lapse from sobriety 
only served now to fan the fires of her de- 
— 112 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


termination to rescue him from the 
clutches of John Barleycorn, and their in- 
timacy soon became the talk of the town. 

Finally one day after a special lapse 
from sobriety on Joe’s part, she rescued 
him from a group of friends with whom 
he about to enter another palace of thirst, 
and they laughingly told her she would 
marry him yet to reform him. 

This, of course, she as laughingly de- 
nied, but the seed had been sown, and 
from that day he gave her no peace, con- 
stantly begging her to link her life to his, 
telling her that if he had her to help him 
all tre time he could and would reform 
aind never again touch a drop of liquor. 

Of course May told him she would be 
a sister to him and that such a thing was 
utterly out of the question, but as he 
really seemed to be able to keep sober 
when allowed her company for a portion 
— 113 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


of each day at least, she began to give 
him more and more of her time, even go- 
ing out with himj occasionally when she 
was off shift. 

Thus the winter wore away, ana 
when spring came and the .boats were 
once more running she determined to go 
to Fairbanks and see if she could not 
learn more of- Jim’s whereabouts, since 
she had several times heard of him as 
having been in that section of the coun- 
try. 

When told she was going Joe again 
pleaded his cause and tho she told him in 
as gentle a manner as possible that she 
could never be his wife, he would not give 
up, and determined to follow her. 

Her employer was sorry to lose her 
but 'when he found she was determined to 
go gave her a letter to a friend in Fair- 
banks which instantly secured her a good 
— 114 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATHT 

position on her arrival, for girls, and es^ 
pecially good girls, are scarce in that 
country even to the present day. 

The next down river boat found her 
la passenger and in due time she arrived 
at Fairbanks where she presented the let- 
ter given her by her Dawson employer 
and was as we said before instantly ac- 
cepted and placed in charge of the hotel 
office with permission -to exercise her 
ability as a stenographer for the benefit 
of those of the guests who. had need of 
her services. 

Between her salary and this work 
she was thus enabled to make very fair 
wages and it w^as not long before her 
bank book showed a balance that was 
rapidly approaching four figures. 

As yet she had been unable to hear 
anything of Jim, tho she was , always 
— 115 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


alert and questioned all who came in from 
the surrounding camps. 

Many of the men said they knew him 
but none had seen him now for over a 
year and a half. 

She had been in Fairbanks- nearly a 
-month before Joe showed up and had be- 
gun to hope that she was rid of him, for 
tho she had tried hard and earnestly to 
reform him he had begun to wear on her 
nerves with his constant importunities to 
marry him. 

But one fine morning just as she had 
settled down to write some letters for one 
of her customers in that line, who should 
roll in at the door but Joe, drunk as the 
proverbial boiled owl and apparently 
glad of it, at least till he saw her. 

She had not let him know where she 
intended to go to work and he had merely 
happened to enter this particular hotel in 
— 116 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


his wanderings, and was really as much 
surprised to see her as she was to see 

him. 

However he, at least, was equal to 
the occasion and made a tremendous 
effort to brace up, but it was no use. 

John Barleycorn was in the ascen* 
dant and booked to remain there for some 
time to come at least, for he had been 
drinking heavily all the way from Daw- 
son on the boat and had added several 
more drinks to his already collossal jag 
since he had struck town that morning. 

It was no use to pretend she did not 
see him or did not know him, for he 
rollled over to the desk and leaned 
across it with the easy familiarity of an 
old acquaintance and a highly privileged 
character, so May made the best of it and 
continued her work, keeping up a run- 
ning fire of conversation with him the 
— 117 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


while, for as long as he remained quiet in 
iiis present position people would not no- 
tice his condition either so much or so 
readily. 

At last it was time to go to lunch and 
she tried to get away from him on the 
pretext that she had to go to the kitchen 
to eat, but he would not listen to this and 
insisted that she go out to lunch with 
him. 

This she did not wish to do, yet 
neither did she want to see all her efforts 
in his behalf in the past go for naught as 
she well knew would be the case if she 
did not yield to his request, so finally she 
told him if he would go and get a shave 
and spruce up a little she would with 
him. 

To this he at once agreed and toddled 
off like an obedient child to do her bid- 
ding. 


— 118 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


When he came back an hour later a 
stranger would scarcely have recognized 
liim for the same man. 

The barber had worked wonders in 
his condition as well as in his appearance, 
and there was now very little evidence of 
his late debauch. 

After lunch she told him he must al- 
low her to finish her work and that if he 
would be good she would see him in the 
evening. 

As before he acceded to her wishes 
and immediately effaced himself, nor 
did he show up again till dinner time, 
when he again came for her to go to din- 
ner with him. 

After dinner they went to a theatre 
and after the show and another light 
lunch he escorted her home. 

For several days he managed to keep 
strictly sober and she was beginning to 
— 119 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


think he would really reform at last when* 
once more he fell by the wayside and was 
gone for several days, for now that he 
knew where she was he studiously avoid- 
ed that locality when drink had got the 
better of him, which only goes to prove 
an oft made assertion that a man is nev- 
er so drunk that he does not know what 
he is doing. 

Meantime she was not without other 
suitors. 

At least two prominent business men 
were keen rivals for her favors, and one,, 
at least of these was kind enough to in- 
form her of the whereabouts and condi- 
tion of her '‘friend from Dawson,” tho he 
certainly did himself no good by so doing. 

This sort of thing kept on till well 
along in the winter, Joe taking her out 
whenever he could manage to keep sobei 

long enough to do so, and the other two 
— 120 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


filling in between, so she had little time 
for thot or leisure. 

There were few letters to write at 
this time of the year and she was alone in 
the hotel office much of the time, and on 
one of these lonesome mornings another 
old friend from Dawson drifted in and sat 
down to visit with her. 

, Imagine his surprise when after an 
exchange of commonplace she bluntly 
asked his advice as to whether she should 
yield to Joe’s importunities and marr> 
him, in order, of course, to reform him. 

Imagine, if you can, too, his further 
surprise, next day when he went to his 
own home to lunch, for he was now living 
in Fairbanks, and was handed a letter by 
his wife received that morning from May, 
whom she numbered among her few 
warm personal friends, which simply 

said that by the time the letter was re- 
— 121 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


ceived she, May, would be off on her wed- 
ding trip to the Iditorod country by dog 
team. That she and Joe had been married 
the night before. 

It was utterly unexplainable and 
was a nine days wonder in the camp, but 
at last people ceased gradually to talk of 
it and the matter was forgotten, except 
when some miner from out in the hills 
came to town, and sought her desk foi 
the purpose of giving her a letter or two., 
for they had all got the habit of having 
her write their letters. 

Then, of course there would be expla- 
nations and exclamations of surprise ana 
disbelief, usually winding up with a liba- 
tion at the bar on the other side of the 
partition and a toast to her “just for 
luck.” 

Nearly a year wore itself away and 
— 122 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


one day late in the fall following, May 
drifted into Circle City alone. 

No one knew her nor whence she 
had come, and she remained several days 
without attracting much attention. 

Finally while at dinner in the res- 
taurant one evening she overheard some- 
one mention Jim’s name and at once 
throwing aside all reserve began to ask 
questions. 

Her informant, it seemed had recent- 
ly come out from a new strike still farth- 
er north, where he had heard of Jim, tho 
he had not seen him personally, and told 
hev that Jim was the discoverer of the 
new strike and that the town had been 
named after him, as well as many other 
things that she had much rather not 
have heard, among them that Jim was al- 
ways around among the Indians and had 
Indins working for him, even having 

squaws to do his cooking. 

— 123 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


Tho the stranger spoke well of him 
and told her that he was considered by all 
in the camp to be the “whitest man in 
the diggings” the reference to the Indians 
and particularly the squaws, was almost 
more than she could bear. 

She forebore asking direct questions 
as to whether Jim was known as a squaw 
man or not, nor did she make the reason 
of her interest in him known, but 
thanked the stranger for his informa- 
tion and went at once to her room. 

Arrived there she sent for the pro- 
prietor of the hotel and astonished that 
individual by asking him to procure her 
a dog team and two guides at once to take 
her to Jimtown. 

In spite of the fact that he assured 
her it was out of the question to make 
the trip at this time of year she waa 
— 124 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


quietly insistent, and when she told him 
she would find them herself if he did not 
assist her, he at last gave in and within a 
few hours had arranged everything for 
her to start in the morning, tho he had 
much difficulty in persuading anyone to 
attempt the trip, which really seemed 
like tempting providence. 


CHAPTER SEVEN 


A terrible Trip-— Siwashing in Mid -Win- 
ter — The Arrival at Jimtown. A 
Serious Illness — Jim Doesn’t 
Recognize Her. 


We left May North preparing to 
start out on a trip from Circle City to the 
new camp several hundred miles in the in- 
teiror and, still worse, with snow already 
on the grourd and late in November. 

Not only the hotel proprietor, but 
the guides he had engaged at her insist- 
ence as well, tried in vain to dissuade her 
from her purpose. 


— 126 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


Their arguments if they had any 
effect at all, only seemed to make her 
the more determined to go, and at once. 

So finally they gave up and about 
one o'clock they got away on what was 
indeed to be a memorable trip for all of 
them. 

The weather when they started was 
fine and they made good progress the 
first two days, but on the third it began 
to snow and long before night all traces 
of the trail were completely obliterated. 

Still they struggled ^on and finally 
made camp that night in the scant shelter 
of a small grove of stunted spruce that 
they found a short distance from the 
river. 

The cold was less intense as long 
as the snow continued to fall, and aside 
from the discomfort, they were not so 
badly off that night, but when they start- 
— 127 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


ed out next morning and had to break 
trail thru two feet of freshly fallen snow 
it was not only slow progress but. hard 
work as well. 

With the trail in such a condition it 
was all the dogs could do to haul the bag- 
gage and previsions and May was obliged 
to mush with the guides, and this she 
soon found was going to tax her strength 
far more than she had counted on, es- 
pecially with so much soft snow to con- 
tend with. 

But she was game and stuck to it 
bravely till near the middle of the after- 
noon, when she began to stagger and 
finally fell. 

She scrambed to her feet, however, 
and essayed to try it again, but again she 
staggered and fell and at last was forced 
to acknowledge that she could not travel 
further that day. 

* — 128 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


So they made"' camp as best they 
could in the open country in which they 
then were and prepared to spend the 
night. 

The guides l»d seen to it that she 
was provided for and was as comfortable 
.as possible long before night settled down 
and seeing a small clump of poplars a 
short distance away took advantage of 
the remaining daylight to see if they 
could not shoot some ptarmigan, and re- 
turned about dark with a fine bag, which 
would furnish them^ with fresh meat for 
several meals. 

Supper was prepared before they 
awoke her and when the appetising dish 
was set before her her spirits improved 
at once, and by the time she had finished 
•she declared she could travel all night. 

This, however the guides insisted 


— 129 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


she must not think of as she not onijr 
needed the rest, but to travel in the ni^hff 
was absolutely dangerous as well, so Majr 
crawled once more into her sleeping bag 
and curled up for the night. 

When morning dawned the sky was 
once more clear, but they still must con- 
tend with the snow, and May found her 
knees trembling under her long before 
it was time to stop for the midday meaL- 

It would not do to stop long at noon,- 
either, as the days were very short at this 
time of the year, and she really felt as tho- 
she had better not have stopped at all. 

She was stiff and sore in every joint* 
and it was only by a supreme effort of 
will that she forced herself to continue 
the journey. 

Shortly before dark that night they 
were fortunate enough to find a deserted 
cabin near the trail which, tho in a very 
^ 130 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


dil^apidated condition offered ^ much 
ter shelter than the open sky, and here 
they decided to camp for the night. 

This was peculiarly fortunate, too, 
for when May awoke next morning she 
was utterly unable to walk at all, and 
here they had to camp for several days, 
till she had rested sufficiently to continue 
the trip. 

After a three days rest, however. 
May declared herself able to travel once 
more and from that time on she never 
complained, tho at times she felt as tho 
it would kill her to go another mile. 

For three weeks they continued in 
this way, constantly having to break 
trail thru soft, unbroken snow, which ife 
the hardest kind of travelling known. 

Their provisions were now at an end 
and they must hereafter depend almost 
entirely on the game they could secure, 
— 131 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


the time taken in hunting made their 
]ipa^’e&s now very slow indeed. 

But all things have an end, they say» 

at last, just when May’s strength was 
^^in nearly at an end, they began to see 
of human life. 

First they crossed a snow shoe trail, 
^^ntly made by some hunter from the 
nmv. camp. 

Further on they found again the 
ismie trail and the remains of a recently 
feerted camp. 

Towards night they again struck the 
isame trail, and this time the tracks were 
landed towards them and followed the 
jsijarie trail they were travelling in, which 
izi^de their own travelling considerably 
ussier and enabled the dogs to add May's 
limght to their load whenever the ground 
ims: not too hilly. 

— 132 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


This rested her considerably so iSfaift 
she was able to make fairly good line 
when she had to mush for a short afe- 
tance up hill or over ground that was 
rough. 

They found a sheltered spot to 
that night where there were plenty 
the stunted spruce trees of the north 
soon had a very comfortable siwash fkedL 
for the night and, the added advantage® 
of a good fire of spruce logs, which Mair 
found extremely grateful after the tag: 
weeks she had been compelled to 'gatL 
along with little or no fire. 

Next morning she again enjoyed at 

i 

good, fire to eat her breakfast by and 
in high spirits when they set out again cum 
their journey. 

Shortly after they had eaten thsdr 
midday meal they again found snow sk^ 
tracks, this time coming into the tml 
— 133 — 


.OVE'S CROOKED PATH 


aiid headed in the same direction they 
were going. 

This made the going still better and 
Ikiay was now able to ride most of the 
time. 

From now on they made good time 
again and as they progressed further 
found more tracks coming into the trail 
at intervals, and by the time they camped 
for the night they were on a fairly well 
beaten trail. When the guides told her 
that night that they were now within a 
day or two of the new camp as near as 
they could estimate, May felt so elated 
she could hardly contain her feelings and 
danced about the fire and sang as th^ 
prepat-ed the evening meal, tired tho she 
was, for it is really tiring even to ride in 
a dog sled all day. 

She slept soundly that night and 
awoke next morning still very stiff and 
— 134 — 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 


sore, but in the best of spirits and really 
feeling more refreshed than she had ex- 
pected. 

They were soon away once more and 
with the improved condition of the trail 
made the best time that day they had 
made at any time in the entire trip, and 
when they camped that night were with- 
in sight of the mouth of the creek on 
which the new camp was located. 

After a hasty breakfast next morn- 
ing they set out once more on the last 
lap of their journey, and shortly after “ 
noon were at their destination. 

Their coming was, of course, entirely 
unexpected and created suite an excite- 
ment in the camp, for it was an unheard 
of thing for even men to attempt the 
trail at this time of year, let alone a 


woman. 


— 135 ^ 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


May’s spirits, too, which had been so 
high the night before, had evidently onljr 
been the premonitary symptoms of the 
high fever in which she now found her- 
self, and when they pulled up in front of 
the little store, (there was as yet no hotel 
in the camp) she essayed to jump from 
the sleigh only to fall in a heap on the 
snow in a state of coruplete collapse. 

Accommodations for ladies were not 
plentiful in the little camp, and so, after a 
hasty consultation among the miners^ 
she was taken to Jim’s cabin, as he was 
away on a hunting trip and not likely to 
be back for some time. 

The only women in the camp were a 
few squaws and a few dance hall girls, 
and two of the latter volunteered to take 
care of her as best they could while they 
were off shift. 


— 136 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


For the balance of the time the 
squaws would wait on her. 

No one knew who she was or why 
she had come and she was in no condition 
to talk, even if she were conscious, which 
she was not, and when consciousness re- 
turned it was but for a moment and then 
delerium set in from which did not re- 
cover for many days. 

While she was in this condition it 
would not do, of course to trust her to the 
tender mercies of the squaws alone and 
so one of the dance hall girls was de- 
tailed by a committee of miners who 
raised a purse to pay for her services, to 
remain with her all the time. 

Days passed and she hovered on the 
borderland of the great unknown, but her 
splendid constitution backed up by the 
clean, wholesome life she had always led, 
— 137 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


finally triumphed and she began gradual- 
ly to mend. 

While she had been still deliriou!^ 
Jim had come back from his hunting 
trip and had at once arranged to give her 
the cabin to herself, and had, in addi- 
tion, as narrated in a previous chapter, 
sent for the chief’s daughters, in whose 
nursing he had reason to have much con- 
fidence, to assist in caring for her. 

It is needless to say that he did not 
recognize her in the condition she was 
then in, nor did he when she became con- 
valescent, seeing which. May, who had 
noted the presence of the squaws instant- 
ly on recovering consciousness and had 
heard them speak of him, resolved to 
keep her identity hidden if possible, at 
least for a time. 

In this she had no difficulty. 

— 138 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 

Since the arrival of the chief^s 
daughters they had taken care of her en- 
tirely, and she now began to notice more 
and more of her surroundings daily and 
finally as she grew stronger engaged 
them in conversation. 

She was much impressed by their 
peculiar dark beauty and also by their 
musical names, Wauna, and Nai-e-tah, 
and had some difficulty in mastering the 
peculiar soft accents of the latter name. 

She watched the girls’ conduct to- 
wards Jim closely whenever he was about 
las also his attitude toward them, but tho 
they were friendly, and the girls plainly 
held him in very high regard, she could 
see nothing that she felt would warrant 
her in believing they were anything 
more than excellent friends. 

Finally one day when talking with 
the girls she learned of Jim’s long illness 
^ 139 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


and that they had nursed him for maRy 
months ere he had been able to wa|S^ 
again, and thereafter ceased to wonder st 
his friendly attitude toward them. 

Still she waited before making her- 
self known to him and as she grew gra^ 
ually stronger noted with a sigh that his 
visits became less frequent, tho she ofl?m 
caught him looking at her with a far- 
away look in his eyes that was hard t© 
interpret. 

Finally the great morning came. 

She was strong enough to sit up in 
chair — Jim had fashioned a rustic seat 
that was to do justice for one — 
wrapped in light, tho warm furs she waar 
placed in the doorway where she couM 
easily enjoy the beautiful spring sunshme 
and the beauties of the newly budding 
foliage all around. 

0 

— 140 — 


CHAPTER EIGHT 


^^ognition at Last — The Barrier — Joe 
Appears on The Scene. 


Jim had come to congratulate her on 
3ier recovery and had not recognized her. 

This, May thought, was the most 
cruel blow fate could have dealt her. 

Of course, tho, she certainly did not 
look much like her old self now, after 
long illness, but she thot she would 
iiave recognized him under any circum- 
stEnces. 

But men are such unobservant crea- 
toes at the best. 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


She dismissed the thot with a sigh, 
more determined than ever, now, to keep 
her identity a secret as long as possible. 

As yet no one had ever asked her 
name or tried to find out what brot her 
here. 

She had been too weak to talk much 
and when she had recovered conscious- 
ness had simply told Wauna, who had 
been with her at the time, to call her Miss 
West, so had escaped any further ques- 
tions. 

The sun was shining brightly and 
the trees were freshly leaved out, while a 
few stray flowers were already strug- 
gling to raise their heads above the moss, 
and all nature seemed glad. 

Why should she not a^so be glad? 

She had found Jim at last, and the 
there certainly were squaws around with 
whom he was on exceedingly friendly 
— 148 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


terms, there did not seem to her to be 
more than friendship to it, when she took 
Into consideration the fact that it was to 
them he owed his life. 

She w^s not a jealous minded person, 
and was disposed to be fair in her estir 
mate of the man she loved. 

So she sat watching the beauties of 
nature from the cabin door for a long 
time. 

Suddenly the thot of Joe came back 
to her. 

Where was he? 

What could she do, now that she had 
found Jim, still bound as she was to this 
wreck of a man who hung like a mill- 
stone about her neck? 

She had not seen him now for over a 
year and had almost forgotten his very 
existence since she had left him, after a 
prolonged spree, surrounded by three 
— 14B— 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


squaws, each of which claimed him as her 
man, and with all of whom she had no 
doubt he had at least been altogether too 
intimate. 

When he had first taken her to his 
cabin in the Iditirod country, she had 
found evidences of the presence of 
squaws, but this he had explained by tel- 
ling a plausible story about the Indians 
having paid him a visit some time pre- 
viously and their having been accompan- 
ied by their women folks, and Wen 
showed her some furs and a beaded skin 
coat that he said he had purchased from 
them at the time. 

And she had believed it all at the 
time. 

At fitst he had kept sober, then by 
degrees his trips to town became more 
and more prolonged and at last one day 
he came home with a bottle in his pocket, 
— 144 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


When she had discovered it he had 
told her it was only to be used in case of 
sickness and that he would not touch it 
.unless he were troubled with cramps or 
a bad cold or some other malady that 
made its use necessary. 

Again she had believed and had not 
•even watched to see whether he were ac- 
tually telling the truth or not. 

But one day she had a terrible tooth- 
ache and remembered years before hav- 
ing heard some one tell that toothache 
could be relieved by taking some liquor 
into the mouth and holding it for a long 
time in such a way as to cover the tooth. 

She had gone to the cupboard where 
she had seen him place the bottle and had 
found the bottle, it is tru, but there was 
^nly a spoonful or so of the liquor left. 

When she taxed him with having 
— 145 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


drank it he had become angry at first and" 
accused her of spying on his actions. 

True, he had afterwards apologized 
for his ugly words and endeavored to 
smooth it over, and she had let him 
think he had succeeded, but her heart 
was still sore and she resolved to keep a 
closer watch on his actions for the future.* 
The next time he came from the vil- 
lage -she was positive he had been drink- 
ing again, and on the following day he 
came in from his work with the smell of 
liquor on his breath. 

that- night he went out after suppeir 
and returned a few hours later in a state 
that was far from being one of ‘‘beastljr 
sobriety,” and from that time on he had 
gone from bad to worse till he was drunk 
most of the time and did not care wheth- 
er she knew it or not. 

Finally he had come in in a quarrel- 
— 146 — 


I.OVE’S CROOKED PATH 


some mood one night and when she had 
cried he struck her. 

She had not uttered a word, but had 
simply stood and looked at him for a long 
time, with wide open, staring eyes that 
saw nothing, then had turned and gone 
into the other room of the little cabin, 
closing and fastening the door behind her. 

He had been somewhat sobered for 
the moment as much by the way she 
took it as by what he had done, but the 
fumes of the liquor soon overcame the 
impulses of his conscience and he had 
ranted around for a while and then set- 
tled down at the table with his head in his 
hands and fallen asleep. 

Thus she saw him last, when, an 
hour later she had cautiously opened the 
door and tiptoed past him with a bundle 
in one hand and a suitcase in the other 
and disappeared into the night. 

— 147 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


When the morning dawned she had 
been far away and had not ceased to put 
the miles between herself and this night- 
mare of a man until her money was en- 
tirely exhausted. 

Then she had gone to work for a few 
days at a time in each place till at last 
she felt convinced that he was not fol- 
lowing her. 

Then, and not* till then, she had set- 
tled down to work in earnest, and had 
hoarded every dollar, not with any defin- 
ite object in view, but simply as a precaur 
tionary measure, in case she should need 
it. 

How she had come to make up her 
mind to go to Circle City she could never 
have told. 

She had simply gone, and she could 
not account in any way for the impulse 
that led her. 


^ 148 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


And then had come the news of Jim, 
and the long, terrible trip, and after that 
all was a blank. 

She did not even remember arriving 
at Jimitown. 

But now that she had found Jim at 
last there was an insurmountable barrier 
between them, for she was of Catholic 
faith and that church* does not coun- 
tenance divorces. 

What should she do? 

She was about to make up her mind 
to allow her identity to remain a secret 
and disappear again as suddenly as she 
had come, once her strength had re- 
turned, when a step coming up the path 
aroused her from her reverie. 

She glanced up to see Jim with a 
huge boquet of early crocusses, which are 
the first flowers to put in an appearance 
in that part of the country in spring. 

— 149 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


‘T brought you some flowers,” he 
said simply. 'T thought you would like 
them. They are the first of the season.’* 

She thanked him in simple words 
and then asked, “Why do you trouble so 
much for me, a.n utter stranger?” 

^ His reply was equally simple, yet it 
had a wonderfully calming effect on her 
troubled mind. 

“I was sick and ye ministered unta 

me.” 

“I would like to have some one care 
for me if I was ill, and I don’t know how 
soon I may be again. 

“I was very ill indeed once and these 
two girls, natives tho they are, saved my 
life by simple care and attention. I can 
never forget the debt I owe and feeL 
grateful to be able to do something for 
someone else in return. 

“By the way, do you know that you 
— 150 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


remind me very much of someone I used 
to know outside, someone that I have not 
^een for years? 

“But I am trying to forget her, for 
she is now the bride of another.’’ 

Little he knew at the moment how 
literally true were his words. 

He passed a few pleasantries and, 
promising to look in again towards even- 
ing to see if there was anything further 
he could do for her, started off down 
the gulch in the direction of one of his 
claims. 

May watched him till he was out of 
sight and then sat there dreaming long 
after he had passed beyond the range of 
her vision. 

Finally she fell asleep. 

Nai-e-tah, who had been hovering 
round her, gently placed a pillow beneath 
her head and altered her position slightly 
— 151 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


so that she would be more comfortable,, 
and drew the chair back a short distance 
from the door. 

May dosed in this way for about aa 
hour and a half, when she suddenly 
awoke with a startled cry on her lips. 

‘‘Jim! Jim!” she called, then, thoroly 
roused by the sound of her own voice, she 
tried to cover her confusion at the wide- 
eyed wonder of the two Indian girls, for 
Wauna had returned while she slept, by 
telling them that she had been dreaming 
of an old friend and thot she had fallen 
into the river and had called to him to 
save her. 

She had barely finished telling them 
this when Jim himself appeared, coming 
on the run up the path. 

He did not stop running till he stood 
in the doorway, when he asked, “Did you 
call. Miss West?” 


■ 152 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


'T was dreaming,” she answered sim- 
ply, and told him the same story. 

''And was your friend’s name Jim, 
too?” he asked. 

"Yes,” she replied, dropping her 
eyes. 

When she raised them again she 
found him regarding her intently, and 
with a strangely puzzled look in his eyes. 

She met his gaze squarely for a 
moment and again dropped her lids. 

When she looked up again he was 
gone, but it was many days ere she for- 
got that look. 

He had seemed to be many miles 
away, groping in the cobwebs of memory 
for something that would not come. 

And there was a heart-hunger in 
that look that she could not understand, 
for she did not know that he had supposed 

^ 153 -. 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 


her faithless and had but hidden his own 
sorrow in his kindness to others. 

For days she tried in vain to solve 
the problem thus presented, and finally 
gave it up. 

Jim called every day to see how she 
was getting along, but there was nothing 
in his actions that she could possibly con- 
strue as anything more than the defer- 
ence he would accord to any lady who 
might chance to be thrown in his com- 
pany. 

He was in every sense of the word 
a gentle, manly, man, and that was all 
there was to it. 

He did not seem to be in the least in- 
terested in her, other than to wish her to 
recover her health and strength, tho she 
now strove, womanlike, to make herself 
as entertaining and attractive to him as 
possible. 


— 154 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


At last she was strong enough to 
venture out for short walks, and on these 
occasions Jim often accompanied her, 
pointing out the beauties of nature and 
leading her where the freshest flowers 
grew, but at all times his conduct was the 
same. 

He was friendly; he was kind; he 
was a thoro gentleman, but that was all. 

She could not figure it out. 

As she grew stronger the roses be- 
gan to come back to her cheeks and she 
daily grew to look more and more like 
her former self. She would often sit upon 
s. rock or log by the side of the road to 
rest when they were out for the walks 
which were daily growing longer now, 
aad on several of these occasions she had 
tamed suddenly from gazing at some of 
the beauties of the scenery and found Jim 
watching her with that same puzzled, 
— 155 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


hungry look in his eyes, but it had in- 
stantly vanished when her eyes met his. 

It began to look as tho she would be 
able to keep her secret after all, and tho 
she really had made up' her mind to do so, 
womanlike, she could not help wishing he 
would recognize her. " 

It would make it so much easier, she 
often thot. 

Finally Jim announced that the first 
boat of the season was expected at the 
mouth of the creek that afternoon on its 
way up the river from St. Michaels, and 
asked her if she felt strong enough to 
walk three miles, which the trip to the 
mouth of the creek and back would re- 
quire. 

The first boat of the season is al- 
ways a great event in the north, and this 
little community was no exception to the 
rule. 

— 156 — 


-OVE’S CROOKED PATH 


Everyone who could possibly ga 
would be there. 

Tho this was a little further than she 
had yet attempted she felt so well that 
she unhesitatingly answered that she 
could easily walk twice that distance, and 
he told her to be ready at one, which 
would give them about an hour to get 
there before the boat was expected, the 
news of her coming having been brot by 
an Indian from another village a short 
distance below, if one travelled overland, 
tho the distance by the river was a mat- 
ter of four or five hours run up stream 
and if there was much freight the time 
woujd be even longer than that. 

The distance overland could be easily 
negotiated in from two and a half to 
three hours, and it was not unusual for 
the Indians to bring news of the coming 
of a boat Several hours in advance of her 
— 157 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


arrival at the mouth of the creek as was 
the case in this instance. 

They reached the landing safely and" 
had over half an hour to wait before the 
boat came in sight around the bend be^ 
low, pushing two heavily laden barges 
and finally nosed in at the bank. 

There were few passengers, but quite 
a consignment of freight to be unloaded,, 
and May took advantage of the time te 
make a visit aboard, where she was 
afforded a pleasant hour in the company 
of some of the passengers, bound for 
points further up the river, several ladies 
being among them. 

She was feeling quite gay when al 
last they started to go ashore, and laugh- 
ingly disdained Jim’s hand as she started 
down the narrow plank, some of the lines 
being already cast off. 

She had not taken more than tw’O or 
— 158 — 


IvOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


three steps on the plank, however, when 
the boat suddenly beg'an to swing with 
the current, and while there was no real 
danger it made her dizzy, and an instant 
later she was struggling in the swift wat- 
ers of the Yukon, which at this exact 
point were not only particularly swift, but 
deep as well, owing to the sharp bend in 
the channel just above where the creek’ 
came in. 

As she fell she again cried out as she 
had in her sleep, ‘‘Jim! Oh! Jim! Save 
me !” and sank beneath the swirling, mud- 
dy water. 

Jim had seen her sway as she be- 
came dizzy and had tried to save her, but 
finding himself unable to do so, had 
plunged in after her, striking the water 
but an ins taut later than she did, but was 
unable to grasp her before she sank, ham- 
pered *As he was by his heavy clothing, 
— 159 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


which he had not taken time to remove. 

However, there was a new light in 
his eyes as he came to the surface and 
struck out in the direction where she 
might be expected to reapper. 

In that instant he had recognized 

her. 

May came to the surface half a 
tables' length down stream, but he was 
within a few feet of the spot as she re- 
appeared and succeeded in grasping her 
before the current again sucked her 
down. 

He was a powerful swimmer but it 
was with difficulty that he managed to 
keep both their heads above the surface 
in that awful current till a rope thrown 
by the engineer, who had been standing 
at the side of the boat awaiting the sig- 
nal to reverse his engines, reached him. 

They were quickly gotten out'Of the 
-- 160 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


water and May found to be little worse 
for her experience except for the wetting, 
having had presence of mind to hold her 
breath while under the surface. 

Some of the ladies kindly volunteered 
to loan her a change of clothing and the 
obliging captain held the boat till she 
could be taken care of. 

She was given a thoro rub by the 
dies and the obliging steward brot her a 
steaming tumbler of hot rum, which, 
much as she hated liquor she could not 
well refuse. 

In less than half an hour she was 
again dressed and ready to once more es- 
say the crossing of that treacherous 
plank, laughing the while at her own folly 
and the narrow escape that had been the 
result. 

This time, however, she did not dis- 
dain Jim’s offer of assistance, tho it 
— 161 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


would not have done her much good if 
she had, for there was a determined light 
In his eyes that spoke much as he offered 
her his hand. 

Jim also procured a change of cloth- 
ing from one of the passengers who was 
getting off here and so was none the 
worse for his bath. 

The excitement had kept May up for 
the time and as they started back up the 
creek she did not at first feel any the 
worse for her experience, but ere she had 
gone half the distance she began to feeF 
weak and was finally forced to sit down 
and rest. 

There was no need for them to wait,. 
Jim told the rest, who also stopped to see 
if they could be of any assistance, Miss 
West would be all right as soon as she 
had rested a little, so they went on. 

This was exactly what Jim wanted, 
— 162 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


for he could hardly awaiL the time when 
he could get a word alone with her noWr^ 

It had all flashed over him in an in- 
instant as he saw her fall and again heard 
that cry, *‘Jim! Oh! Jim!^’ and he knew it 
was not Miss West, but his own sw€set~ 
heart. May North, that he must save 
from the icy waters of that treacherous 
river. 

When the last of the party were out 
of sight he took her suddenly into his 
arms as they sat there, and asked, ‘‘May, 
little sweetheart, what does all this 
mean? Why have you tried to hide ymr 
identity from me all this while? 

“Of course I ought to have known 
you,” he went on, “but I never dreamed 
of your being in this country, I supposed 
you were happily married outside.” 

She loked up for an instant into lifs> 


— 163 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


eyes and then buried her face in his neck 
and burst out in tears. 

And as she lay there she sobbed out 
her story, winding up with a heartbreak- 
ing sob and’ the query, '*and now what 
ever are we going to do. I have found you 
only to lose you and all thru my own 
foolishness. It seems a sin to wish such a 
thing but I could almost wish Joe would 
drink himself to death and release me.’’ 

Jim’s face was white and* stern, but 
he said, “No, sweetheart, that is not the 
way, tho the chances are he will do that 
too, ere long. I knew him in Dawson and 
am really surprised that he is yet alive, 
the way he was drinking then, and if he 
has kept up he cannot last long. The on- 
ly thing for us to do is to wait. We have 
waited all these years, surely we are able 
to wait a little longer, now that we are 
together again.” 


— 164 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


This view of the matter cheered May 
up not a liitle so that she soon declared 
herself ready to go on and they reached 
Jink's cabin without further mishap. 

Jim! remained for supper, the first 
meal he had eaten under his own roof 
since she had entered the cabin, and they 
talked until far into the night, when Jim 
insisted that she must get some sleep or 
the roses that had begun to bloom in her 
cheeks once more would wither and die. 

He took pains to correct the erron- 
eous impression about the camp as to her 
name at once, however, telling the people 
that it had been the result of the de- 
lerium and that she had until now not 
paid enough attention to it to think it 
worth while to endeavor to correct it. 

She was May North, he told them, 
and he had known her in Seattle many 
years ago, but had not recognized her till 
— 165 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


today himself, tho had often thot there 
was something familiar in her looks and 
manner. 

Everything about the camp had 
again settled down into regular routine 
for several days and the affair wias almost 
forgotten when one evening several new 
arrivals came straggling up the gulch 
from the river, having made the trip 
doTO in small boats. 

And among them was Joe, drunk, as 
usual, even before he landed, and he im- 
mediately proceeded to add to his jag and 
paint the little town a bright and lurid 
vennillion. 


- 0 - 


— 166 — 


CHAPTER NINE 


Joe Discovers May’s Presence in Camp- 
Snipers at Work. A Squaw Man and 
A Sot — Joe’s Character Re- 
vealed — A Drunken Brawl. 


When the newcomers had at last got 
settled -and established camps for them- 
selves it developed that Joe’s particular 
party consisted only of himself and a 
‘"breed” and two squaws, with one of 
whom Joe was living openly. 

This did not tend to place him in any 
better standing in the little community, 
- 167 -— 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


for the average miner of the north, whiles 
it is true that many of them really did be- 
come squaw men, does not look kindly on 
the mesalliance. Even those who had 
really married the squaws are always 
looked down on to a certain extent, and 
when they happen to be utterly worthless 
in other respects, as Joe had already 
come to be regarded in Jimtown, they do 
not get much consideration at the hands 
of the balance of the community. 

Joe managed to get money enough to 
keep drunk most of the time and spent 
most of his evenings in the dance hall, 
the denizens of which would put up with 
his company as long as his money held 
out, tho he was on mqre than one occa- 
sion thrown unceremoniously out of the 
place as a result of his quarrelsome dis- 
position when on a prolonged spree. 

He had not been long in the place 
— 168 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


when it was discovered that the source 
from which he obtained most of his mon- 
ey for drink was the earnings of the 
squaw, who was not only an expert at 
moccasin making and other lines of In- 
dian work, but had been doing washing 
and mending as well for many of the 
miners. 

The man who will live off the earn- 
ings of a woman in the north is regarded 
as having reached the lowest ditch to 
which he can attain, and particularly so 
if the woman is a squaw, so it was not 
surprising that Joe soon found himself 
shunned by all. 

This still further soured his already 
none too attractive disposition, and there 
was now hardly a day that he was not in 
a quarrel of some kind. 

Finally, however, he did brace up for 
a few days, and went to work, shovelling 
— 169 — 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 


in on one of the upper claims, which was 
too far from the village for him to come 
in except when he laid off work. 

Here he remained for nearly a month 
when, having been paid off, he came down 
to the village and proceeded at once to try 
to corner the supply of liquor in the place. 

He drank heavily till his money was 
gone,* followed from place to place by his 
squaw, who waited like a patient dog out- 
side the door of each place till he would 
reappear. 

As he came out of each place she 
tried to coax him in the direction of the 
place they called home, but he would 
brush her roughly aside and roll into the 
next place with as little compunction as 
he would accord a yellow dog. 

Finally, angered at her persistence, 
he struck her a cruel blow full in the face 

and she fell like a log almost at Jim's 
— 170 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


feet, he happening to pass that way at 
the moment. 

Jim stooped and picked her up as 
he would had she been a white woman, 
and paying no attention to Joe, who was 
making the air sulphurous with his curs- 
es, wiped the blood from her face with 
his handerkerchief which he then gave 
her to hold over the ugly cut under her 
eye where Joe^s kunckles had landed, and 
advised her to go home and leave him 
alone. 

Joe was furious and had it not been 
for the crowd of miners around, none of 
whom he knew were in sympathy with 
him, would undoubtedly have attempted 
a personal settlement of his fancied griev- 
ance against Jim, but drunk as he was he 
knew he would get by far the worst of 
such an encounter under the present cir- 
— 171 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


cumstances, and decided to await a better 
opportunity. 

The affair had sobered him to some 
extent, however, and instead of entering 
the saloon again as he had started to do, 
he slouched off after the squaw, who had 
taken Jim’s advice and gone home. a 

He did not appear again that evening 
nor the next day till along toward even- 
ing, when he hung around on the street 
apparently no particular object in view, 
but when Jim passed finally passed that 
way on his way to pay his evening call, 
on May, which had become a regular 
thing now, he followed a little distance be- 
hind. 

May met Jim at the door and they 
stood talking for a moment before going 
inside, but it was long enough for Joe to 
recognize May, whom until this moment 
he had almost forgotten and whose pres- 
— 172 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


ent whereabouts had been utterly un- 
known to him. 

A cunning leer came over his face as 
he halted to consider the m.atter, and then 
turned and walked slowly back towards 
the dance hall. 

He did not join in the general car- 
ousal that night, but sat in a corner by 
kimself, and anyone who observed him 
would have been struck by the impish ex- 
pressions that flashed across his coun- 
tenance from time to time. 

He left at a comparatively early 
hour, for him, and again strolled down the 
gulch past Jim’s cabin, but as the lights 
were extinguished, he decided to wait till 
morning when most of the miners would 
be at work, before putting into execution 
the devilish plan he had decided upon. 

His face was the face of a fiend as 
he stood before the cabin and shook his 
— 173 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


clenched fist in its direction, muttering 
profanity the while, of a brand that 
would have made Billy Sunday think he 
was a whole logheap of brands waiting J;q 
be plucked from the burning. 

He finally wearied of this, however, 
and turned away, walking slowly in the 
direction of his own cabin, where he 
found his patient squaw awaiting him 
with a hot meal, which she had kept 
waiting for him for hours. 

He was in no mood to eat, however, 
and only cursed her for. her pains, tho he 
did finally sit down and eat a few mouth- 
fuls, after which he arose and threw him- 
self, fully dressed, across the bed, where 
he lay^muttering to himself for some time 
and finally fell asleep. 

He did not rise till late the next 
morning, and after eating breakfast went 
at once in the direction '■of Jim's cabin, 
— 174 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


Arrived there he did not hesitate but 
went at once to the door, which he opened 
without knocking, and confronted Miay, 
who had seen him coming up the path, 
with a sneer of utmost cruelty on his 
face. 

“So, my lady high and mighty, this 
is where I find you? 

“My sweet pure little wife living 
openly with the boss of the camp! 

“I suppose you thot you were rid of 
me for good, didn’t you? 

“Well, you are not, for here I am and 
very much alive, I can tell you. 

“And you might as well make up 
your mind to come along peaceably and 
live with your own true husband, for I 
am going to make that sweetheart of 
yours pay dearly for stealing~’my wife, I 
can tell you. 

“A nice time I have had following 
— 175 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


you from place to place all this while. 

''Well, you will pay for it now, any- 
way. 

"Come, pack up your duds and come 
along — right now — or I’ll take you along 
as you are, without them.” 

He had worked himself into a fine 
frenzy of injured innocence as he rattled 
this off, never giving her a chance to re- 
ply till he found the words coming toa 
fast for utterance and choked in the im- 
potence of his rage. 

May, who till now had not known 
that he was in town, was, of course, sur- 
prised at his sudden appearance as well as 
indignant at his reflections on her virtue, 
and replied spiritedly that she had no in- 
tention of ever living with him again, 
and ordered him out of the house at once^ 

But Joe had fortified his courage 
with several libations from a long black 
— 176 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


bottle before he left his cabin that morn- 
ing and two or three more on his way, 
and was in one of his worst moods. 

'‘So, the little cat shows fight, does 
she? Well, we will soon take that out of 
her,” he snarled, and lunged across the 
room with arms extended to grasp her. 

But May was too quick for him, and 
dodged about the room, keeping the table 
between them, tho he always managed to 
keep between her and the door, till he 
grasped it and threw it to one side and 
finally drove her into a corner, when he 
seized her in his arms and -started for the 
door. 

Wauna and Nai-e-tah had gone into 
the hills early that mroning after berries, 
leaving her all alone, but she had thot 
nothing of it at the time. 

How she longed for their presence 

now. 

— 177 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


If Jim were only here. 

She screamed for help at the top of 
her voice, but the door was closed and 
the walls were thick and tightly chinked 
with moss. 

It was next to impossible that any- 
one would hear her, and the fiend only 
laughed at the impotence of her efforts. 

He held her cruelly tight as he told 
her she might as well give up and come 
with him peaceably. 

She was his wife and he intended to 
assert his rights. 

She still struggled to escape from his 
grasp, but in vain, and was on the point 
of total collapse, for she was still far 
from strong, when the door opened and 
admitted the two Indian girls, each with 
a pail of berrier on their arm. 

“Wauna! Nai-e-tah! Save me,” May 
screamed, tho she had little need, for the 
— 178 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


Indian girls, grasping the situation at ^ 
glance, had advanced quickly on either 
side of the now infuriated Joe, and witn- 
out a thot of the waste of the fine fruit 
they had gathered, had each swung her 
pail, which alone would not have been a 
formidable weapon, but with the added 
weight of the berries was capable of de- 

livering a blow that was not to be laughed 

/ 

at, and struck him almost simultaneous 
blows on opposite sides of the head. 

He staggered, stunned for the mo- 
ment, and released May, and the girls, 
realizing that their pails were now use- 
less as weapons, for the berries were 
practically all spilled, dropped them and 
attacked him with bare fists. 

It was a nasty fight for a few min- 
ntes and the girls would have tad a hard 
battle indeed, strong and lithe as they 
were, but at that moment Jim, who had 
— 179 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


been compelled to return from the claim 
where he was working to get some tools 
he had forgotten, appeared in the* door. 

The girls had fought silently, as the 
Indian nearly always does, while May had 
stood by, exhausted and speechless with 
horror and unable to render any assist- 
ance, her previous struggle with the fiend 
having left her with barely strength to 
stand, but Jim, who had been told the 
whole story of her wrongs, did not await 
an explanation. 

He darted forward and seized the 
miscreant by one wrist and the elbow 
with one twist wrung such a howl of 
agony from his lips as could have been 
heard for a mile. 

Without further ado he wheeled Joe' 
about and propelled him rapidly to the 
door, where the toe of his heavy miner^s 
boot, driven with all force of which he was 
— 180 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


capable, and placed where it would be 
most effestive, was added to the impetus 
that propelled him outward. 

Joe sprawled full length on the grav- 
el path in front of the cabin and under- 
took extensive agricultural operations, 
using his nose for a plow, and when he 
slowly picked himself up one arm hung 
limp at his side, broken by the twist Jim 
had given it as he first grasped him. 

Had Jim but known it he had turned 
as pretty a trick of jiu-jitsu as any Jap- 
anese could have done, tho the hold had 
been du^ entirely to accident and not de- 
sign. 

He had simply caught the first hold 
he could get and the twist was the most 
natural move he could have made. 

He was himself astonished at the re- 
sult. 

Joe’s face was a sight, the agricul- 
— 181 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


turai operations above referred to, having 
evidently been much more effective on 
the tools employed than on the soil he had 
attacked with them, but he did not linger 
to see if he was going to get any sym- 
pathy, for Jim’s voice was already warn- 
ing him of what he might expect if he did 
not efface the blot on the otherwise beau- 
tiful scenery caused by his presence, and 
do it speedily, and he had no relish for an- 
other ride on that boot. 

He was completely sobered now and 
slunk away without a word, and, appar- 
ently realizing that he could not possibly 
expect any standing in the community, 
said nothing of the events of the morning 
to anyone. 

He reached his cabin by a rounda- 
bout path that was but little used and 
was not seen again for several days. 

Jim had not known, when he entered 
— 182 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


the cabin that morning, that this was the 
man May had told him of, but his keen 
intuition had told him instantly that such 
was the case, and after he had allowed 
May time to get control of her nerves he 
asked if such was not the case, and was 
not surprised at the story she told, es- 
pecially after having witnessed the scene 
with the squaw in the street a few days 
before. 

He told May of this now, and added 
that she need have no fear of Joe ever 
bothering her again as long as she was 
there, for he would see to it that he was 
run out of town at the first sign of mis- 
behavior in future. 

He cautioned the girls against ever 
leaving her alone again, which they as- 
:sured him they would not do, and tender- 
ly kissing May, once more went about his 
work. 


- 183 -- 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


It was many days before Joe wa^' 
seen again and when he did show up, witht 
his arm in a sling, he had a pretty story 
to tell about his having fallen over a cliff 
while hunting, which also accounted for 
the appearance of his face, which was not 
yet healed. 

He seemed quite subdued and sat 
quietly around for many days, not seek-^ 
ing any form of entertainment and talk- 
ing but little. 

Finally he began to play cards, -ancSr 
occasionally roulette, and seemed to have 
charmed both the cards and the ball, for 
he won steadily for a time, tho after that 
he placed with varying luck and at last 
his good fairy seemed to have deserted 
him entirely. 

Still he kept on playing, and always 
had money to pay if he lost. 

About this time there began ' to be 
— 184 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 

ugly rumors of someone tampering witfe 
the sluice boxes. 

One after the other, several of the 
miners reported that there had bees 
someone sniping. 

The amounts taken had been small, 
so small that they would not ordinarily 
have been noticed but the work had evi- 
dently been hastily and carelessly done 
and the quick had been allowed to escape 
and small globules had been caught in 
hollows of the sand in the tailings which 
had attracted the attention of the man 
watching them to see that no coarse nug- 
gets ran over, for there was much very 
heavy gold found on this creek and quite 
frequently a nugget would run entirely 
thru the boxes, being mixed with quarts 
and too large to catch in the riffles. 

Close examination had then disclosed 
the fact that the riffles had been lifted 
— 185 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


and some of the gold probably taken, for 
no one would be apt to be tampering with 
the riffles for any other purpose. 

A watch was set with the idea of 
catching the offender red handed and had 
he been apprehended it would surely have 
gone hard with him, for sniping is one oL 
the gravest offenses a man can commit 
in a placer camp, and is always dealt 
with accordingly by the rough, but hon- 
est miners. 

For a long time the watch was strict- 
ly maintained and tho there were fewer 
depredations reported, they continued at 
intervals, susally occuriiig on a particul- 
arly dark night. 

Every man now began to be suspic- 
ious of his neighbor, as is always the case 
when such a thing upsets the serenity of 
a placer camp. 

Jim’s boxes had so far never been 
— 186 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


touched, tho they were well known to be 
in the richest pay on the creek. 

Finally one dark night the camp was 
roused by a fusilade of shots from up the 
gulch, and the next morning the man on 
whose claim the shots were fired came in- 
to town looking very grave indeed. 

In his hand he carried a parcel 
wrapped in an old newspaper, and when 
he had gathered a number of the others 
whose claims had suffered about him he 
slowly unwrapped the parcel without say- 
ing a word. 

When the paper was removed there 
lay in his hand an old hat v/hich every 
man in the crowd instantly recognized as 
belonging to Jim, and there was a bullet 
hole thru the crown. 

0 


■ 187 — 


CHAPTER TEN 


Suspicion — Circumstantial Evidence — A 
Deep Laid Plot-Many a Slip — 
Caught With the Goods — Vin- 
dication and Retribution. 


Circumstantial evidence pointed 
strongly to the only man in the camp 
who was absolutely above suspicion. 

Jim was by all odds the richest man 
in the camp, and could have no possible 
object in robbing his neighbors' sluice 
boxes. 

Yet how could they explain the hat 
which had been found at the scene of the 
sniper's latest depredations? 

- 188 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


It was indeed a problem that would 
puzzle even a Solomon, they all all agreed, 
for not a man among them thot for a mo- 
ment that Jim could, few if any of them 
would have voiced his suspicions^ even if 
he really did think Jim guilty. 

They talked long and earnestly over 
the problem that presented itself- and 
finally resolved to say nothing about the 
matter and await further developments. 

It was now getting well toward the 
first of October and winter would soon be 
upon them. In fact some of the miners 
had already made their final cleanup for 
the season and stacked their boxes for 
the winter. 

This was one of the reasons they 
thot would enable them to catch the thief 
shortly, as he would soon Ibe apt to at-- 
tempt a cleanup on a larger scale to put 
him in funds for the winter. 

— 189 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


They had not much longer to wait^ 
for the very next week another and still 
more daring robbery was reported, sever- 
al boxes having been sniped in one night. 

The camp was in an uproar in the 
morning, but no one seemed to be able to 
advance any idea that would afford even 
the slightest clue to the perpetrator of 
the outrage. 

Various theories were advanced, but 
each in turn was discarded as utterly un- 
thinkable. 

A meeting of the mine owners was 
held that night which was attended by 
nearly every man in town, to considei 
ways and m'^^ans to apprehend the culprit. 

The debate was prolonged until a late 
hour, and they were about to adioum 
without having accomplished anything 
when the door, was throv/n suddenly open 
and Nai-e4ah burst into the room, her 
— 190 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


«yes wild with excitement, hair flying and 
her dress torn and disordered. 

"Jim! JimJ” she called, "come quick! 
Bad man take Miss North!” 

She wheeled and disappeared as sud- 
denly as she had come, but her errand 
had been accomplished. 

Not only Jim, but every man in the 
place was at her heels, as she ran at the 
top of her speed in the direction of Jim’s 
cabin. 

She did not stop there, however, but 
leapt on down the gulch, shouting to the 
men to follow her. 

Jim stopped at the cabin only long 
enough to glance inside, and then started 
down the gulch after the flying girl. 

One glance at the disordered condi- 
tion of the cabin had been enough, and he 
knew if they would save May from the 
wretch every moment was precious. 

— 191 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


He had not counted on Wauna, how- 
ever, and a few hundred yards before 
they reached the Yukon they came upon 
the party. 

Joe and the breed and the two 
squaws were there, the squaws leading a 
struggling figure, bound and gagged, as 
they could see by the light of the moon 
which broke thru the clouds at the mo- 
ment, while Wauna, (who had so far been 
able to resist them to a considerable ex- 
tent,) Joe and the breed were in the act of 
tying to a nearby tree. 

Wauna’s brave fight had lost them so 
much time that they were caught red 
handed. 

They had heard the miners coming 
and Nai-e-tah’s calls to them, and now 
saw them approaching almost as soon as 
they were themselves seen. 

Dropping Wauna and May, they now 
— 192 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


fled towards the Yukon, intent only on 
their own safety, for they well knew the 
fate that would be in store for them if 
they were caught. 

As the miners gained on them they 
at last saw that unless something were 
done to give them a little time they could 
never reach the river, where they felt 
that they wouliL be safe, for they had 
scuttled every boat at the landing but 
their own, and becoming desperate, Joe 
halted and whipped out an ugly looking 
gun, threatening to shoot the first mar* 
who came further. 

He was more than half drunk, and 
unable to run as fast as the rest, and thot 
he could thus gain a little time and get 
his wind, but he had reckoned wrong this 
tirrie, for the reply to this challenge was 
an added burst of speed on the part of his 
— 193 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


pursuers, and frenzied with fear he be^ 
gan to shoot. 

Naturally a coward at heart he now 
trembled with fear and between that and 
the effects of the liquor he had drunk, his 
shots all went wild, tho some of them 
whistled uncomfortably close, and one of 
the miners in the lead at last whipped out 
a gun and sent five shots crashing thru 
the brush in his direction. 

At the first shot his squaw had 
turned and running to him threw herseD 
in front bf him just as the last shot was 
fired. 

Instantly, as the shot rang out, she 
uttered a cry and clutched vainly at the 
empty air, for Joe had turned and was 
running again as tho the evil one was 
close at his heels. 

The other squaw and the breed had 
by this time reached the shore of the riv« 
— 194 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


er and had untied the boat, but the nsen: 
were so close now that each time he 
slipped or stumbled he had difficulty m 
eluding their out-stretched hands. 

At last, just as he reached the bajtk 
of the river, he stepped on a loose stoae 
and pitched headlong, landing witlg. Ms. 
outstretched hands almost within reach: 
of the boat, which the breed had alreaiy 
cast off and was holding with a p^* 
ready to push off the moment he was 
aboard. 

But he was not destined to get a-- 
board. 

Jim and two other miners were upon 
him ere he could recover, and he vpaa 
quickly trussed up in a manner that Mft 
no doubt of the sincerety of their intm- 
tions, while the breed and the squiiW 
were allowed to go, which they Imt 
— 195 — ^ 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


wm time in doing and were never again 
nbiaa. in the camp. 

These ready made and self constitut- 
officers of justice had no handcuffs but 
tied Joe securely to two of their 
Maober besides tying his feet together 
a short thong of rawliide, and in this 
MHmer, like a hobbled horse, he was com- 
^ii^ed to walk back to the village. 

As soon as Joe had been caught Jim 
hastened back to see how May and 
Wauna were faring, and found that two 
the boys had stopped to care for them, 
there were plenty ahead to take 
care of the culprits, if they were caught. 

Both were indeed in a sad plight, 
laving fought with the strength of des- 
;ilKration till May had fainted as soon as 
ledp was heard coming and Wauna had 
•Wfeen continued the ffight alone till they 
succeeded in catching and tying her. 

— 196 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 

They were covered with bruises aai 
their clothing was nearly tom off tliaj% 
tho they were not seriously hurt, wiraali 
was extremely lucky for Joe, consideiia*: 
the mood the miners were then in. 

Joe's squaw they found near the 
dead, with a bullet thru her heart, fa^flb- 
ful, as these squaws always are, to loar 
last breath, she had given her life to 
shield him. 

She was picked up and reverently 
ried to the little village and given as fe- 
cent a burial as the place was capable 
for this was the first funeral to occur m 
its history. 

May and Wauna were also carried to 
the village, the Indian girl being canaedl 
as a mark of honor and respect, as wmAl 
as because she was almost unable to w^SiL 

She had put up a brave fight isaM 
there is nothing these whole souled 'mswk 
— 197 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


fof the north love and honor more than 
femvery and fidelity, and especially so in 
a voman, ho matter who or what she may 

Joe was taken to the same room 
wiBere the meeting had been held earlier 
in the evening, and Jim was unanimously 
airpointed Judge, for Joe was to be tried 
at once. 

As a precautionary measure he was 
sean'ched as soon as the court was organ- 
ised, for they had not forgotten that he 
Irid a gun during the fight on the trail, 
asd to this he put up so much opposition 
Lkit their suspicions were aroused and 
wiiat would otherwise have been merely 
a ease of being frisked for weapons was 
turned into a thoro search of his clothing. 

The search revealed an astonishing 
thing. 

Next to his skin and beneath all his 
— 198 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


clothing they found a wide belt of cariboo 
skin with dozens of small pockets in it, so 
that a large amount of dust and nuggets 
could be carried without danger of it be- 
coming unevenly distributed. In this was 
found several thousand dollars worth of 
dust and nuggets, most of it being coarse 
gold, and bearing the characteristic 
marks of having come from many differ- 
ent claims. 

Here at last was a solution of the 
mystery. ^ 

They had never considered him as a 
possibility in the case for up to that even- 
ing he had still carried his arm in a sling 
and had reported that it was not doing as 
well as might have been, owing to the fact 
that he had not been able to get to a doc- 
tor and had had to depend on the assist- 
ance of the squaws, and the breed to set it, 
— 199 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


tho the Indians are many of them quite 
expert in such matters. 

Caught with the goods, he could on- 
ly confess and throw himself on their 
mercy, for he was too much of a coward 
to accept calmly the fate he knew was 
justly his due. 

Jim, acting as judge and jury, on the 
other hand, was as soft hearted as he was 
manly, and advised that Joe be given a 
week’s grub and escorted to the river 
and turned loose on a raft, having been 
told the small boats had all been de- 
stroyed. 

At first the miners were not disposed 
to allow him to go to easily, but they fin- 
ally yielded to Jim’s eloquence, and after 
reading the culprit a very severe lecture 
and particularly cautioning him that 
should he ever again be seen in May’s 
vicinity he would personally take his 
-~ 200 — 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 

punishment into his own hands, and that 
the lesson he had taught him before 
would not even constitute the ABC of his 
further education on such an occasion, 
Jim appointed a committee of five to see 
that the sentence was carried out. 

And his sentence was carried out to 
the letter, just as w(^ld also have unhes- 
itatingly been done had he told them to 
take the prisoner to the nearest tree and 
hang him, for it must be borne in mind 
that until the law has been established in 
these new communities on the frontires 
of civilization they administer Justice 
with a firm hand and in their own way. 

Joe begged piteously to be allowed to 
repair one of the boats and use that as a 
means of transportation, for he could not 
swim and was afraid of the water, but 
Jim was firm. 


- 201 — 


L.OVE^S CROOKED PATH 


'Take the raft or go to -Circle City 
and be turned over to the police/’ 

And Joe took the raft. 

\ 


- 0 - 


— 202 — 


CHAPTER ELEVEN 


Joe’s Trip Down the River By Raft — A 
Welcome Sight. 


Joe wa^ escorted to the river by a 
none too willing committee of five whom 
Jim, as judge of the improvised court, 
had appointed, 

Willingly wouM they have meted-^out 
a more severe punishment, but Jim had 
been firm and insisted that it were best 
to forget their wrongs and let him go,* as 
they had no legal authority to inflict pun*- 
ishment. 

Besides the trip down the river alone 


— 203 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


on a raft, to one who was as much afraid 
of the water as Joe was would be punish- 
ment enough in itself. 

Arrived at the river bank a raft cap- 
able of bearing his weight and that of the 
grub allowed him was hastily, tho strong- 
ly constructed and the miners watched 
him drift down the river till he was hid 
by the bend some distance below just as 
the sun came over the eastern hills. 

At first he was almost afraid to 
move, for fear of the water makes utter 
cowards of otherwise good men at times, 
and it is just so much worse when a man 
is a natural coward at heart. 

Gradually, however, he gathered a 
little confidence in his staunch, tho un- 
wieldly craft, and essayed at times to 
guide it. 

He had been provided with a pair of 
oars and rough rowlocks or thole pins 
— 204 ~ 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


risrged on the sides of the raft, and also a 
pole. 

The current is sluggish most of the 
^ay from here down except in a few plac- 
es, and his progress was necessarily very 
slow, but as it did not avail much to work 
with the oars, except to guide the raft 
and keep it in the current, he had little to 
do, which exactly suited his naturally 
lazy disposition. 

All that day he allowed the current 
to carry him on without an attempt to 
make a landing, tho several times he fell 
asleep in the middle of the day while the 
sun was warm, only to suddenly rouse 
with the fear that he was going to fall in 
the water. 

Just as twilight was approaching and 
he was thinking of trying to make a land- 
ing at some suitable spot and camp foi 
the night he spied a welcome sight. 

— 205 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


A short distance below,' the rivei’ 
curved again to the left, and the view of 
the channel was hidden by the low ridge 
of. intervening land, he could plainly see 
a thin wreath of smoke curling lazily up- 
ward in the still evening air. 

That could spell nothing else than 
the presence of human life, and perhaps 
of his late partners in the affair at Jim- 
town, the breed and the squaw. 

If so, thev had a boat and he would 
no longer be compelled to trust himself to 
the raft. 

So he anxiously awaited the moment 
when he could make out the side of the 
river they v/ere on, and as soon as he had 
done so began working with all Ms 
strength at the oars, so that he mi?ht be 
able to make a landing at the same place,, 
or as near it as possible. 

This he . managed to accomplish with 
— 206 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


reasonable precision, and was gratified to 
see that they had noticed his approach 
long before he landed and were ready at 
the bank to assist him with a line. 

He was also miore than pleased to 
find that his surmise had been correct as 
to their identity, and as soon as he and 
the breed had tied the raft securely they 
left the squaw to take care of the grub 
and stretched themselves alongside the 
campfire to compare their experiences 
and plans for the future. 

The sun had already disappeared 
and at this time of year the nights are de- 
cidedly cold, but they were used to it, 
still there was imperative need for haste 
as the freeze-up was likely to be upon 
them now within a few days at most. 

• The breed, however had been down 
the river before and told Joe of an Indian 
— 207 —. 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 


village a few days down the river, wAere 
he was sure they could stay. 

This, how^ever, did not meet with 
Joe’s approval. 

He wanted to get to some camp 
where he could get a drink when he want- 
ed it, for he was already in torment, havv 
ing been without all day. 

They finally decided to try to make 
St. Michaels, and 'having eaten the first 
warm meal since the afternoon before 
the events narrated in the last chapter, 
Joe rolled himself in his blanket and was 
soon fast asleep. 

He was awakened shortly after day- 
light next morning by the squaw, who al- 
so performed the same office for the 
breed, and they threw aside their blan- 
kets to find a hot breakfast, with freshly 
caught fish awaiting them. 

After eating heartily they at once 
— 208 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


broke camp and were soon on their way 
down the river again. 

The days being short and the time 
very uncertain when the ice would begin 
to form and put a stop to further use of 
the boat, they now travelled as long as 
they could see each day and only stopped 
at night for a few hours to rest. 

Each morning daylight again found 
them on their way and they rowed con- 
tinuously, even the squaw using a paddle 
most of the time. 

Nearly a week had passed when one 
morning they found the boat frozen fast 
in shore ice which had formed during the 
night. 

Hurriedly they packed their fast 
dwindling supply of grub, broke the thin 
ice from about the boat and again pushed 
out into the stream. 

— 209 — 


LOVE’S CROOKEU^PATH 


All day they labored feverishly at 
the oars. 

At times as they passed the mouth 
of some small stream, they found it 
throwing slush ice. 

When they camped that night the 
breed, who was the only one of the party 
who had ever been down the river, told 
Joe they were still a little over two hun-^ 
dred miles from St. Michaels. 

They pulled the boat high and dry 
onto the bank tonight, for there was ncr 
telling in what condition they would find 
the shore ice in the morning, and they did 
not want to waste precious time chopping; 
it loose from heavy ice, nor have it 
weighted down with ice that they could 
not remove without a lot of trouble. 

They estimated it would take them 
four or five days yet to reach St. Michaels, 
for there was very little current in the 
‘— 210 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


river from here down and they would 
have to depend almost entirely on their 
own exertions instead of being assisted 
from two to three miles an hour by the 
current. 

And the boat, with three people and 
even their scanty outfit, was heavy at 
the best, besides now being loaded down 
with ice on the bottom and sides., 

With the first streaks of dawn they 
were away again and that night they did 
not camp at all, nor the next, but on the 
third night they were all so worn out 
that they were forced to camp and get 
some rest. 

It was all they could do to make a 
landing, for the shore ice now held all day 
and tho heavier now, was very treacher- 
ous, and they had considerable difficulty, 
too in pulling the boat out, but it was; 

— 211 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 

finally accomplished, and the boat over- 
turned on the bank. 

Having eaten, the men rolled in their 
blankets at once and were soon sound 
asleep, but the poor squaw worked far in- 
to the night to rid the boat of the ice 
that had accumulated on its bottom and 
Bides. 

With the first light next morning 
they were again ready to set out, and the 
there was now considerable heavy ice 
running and it looked extremely danger- 
ous to Joe, they finally managed to get 
into the stream without any mishap. 

They could only drift most of the 
time now, and it was plain that this 
would be the last day they would be able 
to use the boat. 

They were still nearly seventy miles 
from their destination according to the 
breed’s reckoning, but they would have 
— 212 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


to camp soon and mush the rest of the 
way. 

It was not so very far now and they 
could easily make it in two or three days> 
and there would be no risk to that mode 
of travel while it was decidedly risky to 
continue longer in the boat, tho less la- 
borious. 

They finally selected a landing place 
where there was a little scrub timber 
that would furnish them with woo d, an d 
immediately set about the by no means 
slight task of getting ashore. 

The ice was heavy and there was 
much of it, and they could only make 
progress toward the shore at intervals 
when there would be a small space of 
open water. 

It was indeed well that they had se- 
lected a spot well down stream from 
— 213 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


where they were at the time, for they 
were already some little distance below 
it when at last they ran the boat’s nose 
up onto the shore ice with all their 
/strength, hoping to break it down at the 
.edge enough to afford them some little 
protection from the passing ice. 

In this they were partially success- 
ful, and by dint of using the pole they at 
last managed to break their way far 
enough in so that the ice was strong 
enough to bear their weight. 

The squaw got out first and made 
her way gingerly to the shore with a 
light load of their belongings, for it 
would not do to trust too much weight on 
-the thin ice. 

When she had made several trips 
Joe and the breed stepped out of the boat 
on either side and essayed to pull her up 
4n the ice, but just as they had almost 
—214— “ 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 

succeeded the ice gave way and they were 
both precipitated into the icy water. 

Fortunately both clung to the boat 
so that all they got was a wetting, which 
was bad enough. 

They clambered back into the boat 
and essayed to break their way further 
toward the shore, but were unable to do 
so and finally concluded to try again. 

This time they strung out the paint- 
ter to the shore and had the squaw pull 
on that at the same time that they lifted, 
and at last succeeded in getting the boat 
out onto the ice, when it was then but a 
short job to get her onto the beach, which 
was necessary, as when the ice would 
jam later on, the shore ice was liable to 
be ground to atoms and with it anything 
that was upon it, and they needed the 
lumber in the boat to make a sled to haul 
— 215 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


their blankets and grub on when agairr 
they set out on their journey. 

They soon had a roaring fire and Joe 
and the breed wer^ shortly dry a;nd none 
the worse for their wetting. 

Brush was gathered and a wickiup 
built that would shelter them somewhat 
from the weather, and after a hearty 
meal they all rolled in their blankets for 
a good long sleep. 

It was past noon the next day when 
Joe and the breed were awakened by the 
squaw, who had breakfast ready, and 
they ate heartily and then turned their 
attention to making their camp as com- 
fortable as possible for a stay of several 
days, as that much time at least would 
elapse before the ice was likely to be safe 
to travel upon. 

A light snow had fallen during the 
night to add to their discomfort, and they 
— 216 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


now proceeded to transform their wickiup 
into a brush hut. 

When this was accomplished they 
moved their belongings inside where they 
would be out of the snow and then set 
about building a sled, tearing the boat to 
pieces for needed material. 

It was slow work without tools ex- 
cept the axe and their knives. 

After knocking the boat to pieces 
they burned the portions they did not 
wish to use, in order to obtain the nails. 

A green sapling was split and peeled 
to use for shoes on the runners, which in 
the absence of iron or steel serves the 
purpose very well, for short distances. 

At last the sled was finished and 
they had nothing to do now but await 
the final closing in of the ice, which was 
already beginning to jam occasionally, 
— 217 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


tho as yet the jams had held but a few 
minutes at a time. 

For three more days they patiently 
waited and on the fourth night about 
ten o'clock they heard sounds from the 
river that told them the end of their vigil 
was near. 

The little light from the fast waning 
moon enabled them to see that the ice 
was jamming every few minutes now and 
that each time it broke great cakes of 
heavy ice were thrown high in the air or 
ground to pieces by the pressure of the 
pack from above. 

Each time the jams held a little long- 
er than the last, and about midnight the 
jam finally held solid. 

They watched for some time to see 
if it would break again, but at last con- 
cluded that it would hold and returned ta 
— 218 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


their camp fire where they sat and talked 
for a long time. 

Joe was for pushing on to Nome in- 
stead of stopping at St. Michaels and at 
last prevailed on the breed to accompany 
him, telling him they could live thru the 
winter much more easily there and in the 
spring they could perhaps find some va- 
cant gi*ound or work on a lay on the 
beach till they got a stake that would take 
them back up the river. 

Joe also concocted a pretty story 
that he figured would go down with the 
big hearted miners in the beach city, of 
coming down the river in a small boat 
with a fine poke that he had taken from 
prospects he had worked in the inside 
country but which had turned out to be 
only pockets, and having been thrown 
against a rock by the swell of the last 
steamer down and losing everything; 

— 219 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


how he had foolishly been traveling' at 
night and consequently his plight was not 
seen by the people on the boat, which had 
passed on, leaving him clinging to the 
rocks, unable to swim, and how he had 
been rescued early next morning by the 
breed and had come on down the river 
with them. 

His poke had been in his pack, which 
had gone down with the boat leaving him 
without a dollar to face the long, hard 
arctic winter. 

Well he knew with such a story the 
big hearted men of the northland wouIq 
not see him suffer and he had no fear ol 
anyone getting down the river before 
spring to contradict his story, which 
would by that time be almost forgotten 

It snowed again during the night, 
and when they awoke there were several 
inches more of light snow on the ground. 

- 220 -- 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 


Their brush hut, however, had beeii 
well constructed and had kept the snow 
froni them and their effects almost en- 
tirely, so they were not particularly un- 
comfortable, and the snow on top held in 
the heat from a small fire, the smoke 
from which escaped thru a hole purpose- 
ly left in the top and arched over with 
^reen boughs. 

They waited two days more, during 
which time it snowed considerably more, 
and then set out. 

There was now over a foot of snow 
and this made travelling upon the ice par- 
ticularly dangerous, as they could not tell 
when they were liable to step on a weak 
spot or in an air hole that had been cov- 
ered over with thin ice and snow. 

They were each provided with a 
stout pole and had to keep striking thru 
the snow on the ice ahead of them with 
— 221 — 


LOVERS CROOKED PATH 


this in order to avoid danger, and more 
than once this precaution served them in 
good stead. 

In consequence their progress was 
necessarily very slow, and when night 
came they had made but little over fifteeni 
mile's instead of the thirty or forty thejr 
had estimated they could make before 
the snow came. 

The soft snow also made the sled pull 
very hard and they were all thoroly tired 
out when night came and they were 
forced to make camp, for it was utterly 
out of the question to attempt to travel 
at night und^r these conditions. 

It was dangerous enough in the day- 
time, at least until th'fere had been suffic- 
iently cold weather to freeze the river 
more solidly. 

All this delay had, however, accom- 
plished one good thing for Joe. 

— 222 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


He had now been so long without 
booze that he had worked most of the 
effects of the summer's debauch out of 
his system and had lost that constant 
craving that had made his life miserable 
for the first few days. 

In fact he hardly ever thought of it 
now, and when he did, it was only to re- 
solve to try to redeem the past, of which 
in his own heart, he was thoroly ashamed. 
After several days they camped at 
last within sight of the lights of the little 
town of St. Michaels, still several miles 
distant, but they were too tired, to at* 
tempt to make it that night. 

Next morning they were astir bright 
and early, however, and long before noon 
were toasting their shins around a warm 
stove in one of the saloons of the little 
town. 

— 223 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


Joe told his little story and was ac- 
corded much sympathy, together with 
sundry contributions from the pokes of 
those who were flush, so they were not 
destined to suffer while awaiting the 
opening of "he trail to Nome. 

Finally the ice in the bay was deemed 
solid enough to hold and the trail to Nome 
soon became well broken. 

Joe had not forgotten his original 
plan and a few days later saw the little 
party of three once more on the trail. 

They reached Nome without further 
nfishap and after again telling his story 
to sympathetic listeners Joe was offered 
a job in one of the gambling halls and the 
breed and his squaw were also put to* 
work. 

In this way the winter wore away 
with but few lapses from strict sobriety 
on Joe's part, for he had to keep sober to 
— 224 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


keep his job, and the job meant a home 
for the winter. 

When spring came he and the breed 
each had quite a nice little stake and Joe 
resolved to take the first boat up the riv- 
er and go back to the Iditirod. 

The breed had been offered a lay on 
some very promising ground on the beach 
.and would not leave, so Joe resolved to go 
back alone. 

He crossed over to St. Michaels next 
day and booked passage on the Sarah, 
which was the first boat billed for up 
stream that spring. 

Over a week would elapse before she 
was due to sail, and Joe proceeded to en- 
joy himself in the meantime by making 
daily (and nightly) rounds of the dance 
halls and saloons, and long ere the week 
had elapsed was well on the way to a pro- 
longed spree. 

— 225 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


When the day finally arrived that 
the boat was due to sail he had long be- 
fore the hour arrived acquired what is 
commonly described the world over, the 
north included, as '‘a peach of a package/’^ 
In fact it was with difficulty he could 
keep on his feet, used as he was to carry- 
ing an overdose of stimulants. 

Just as the last whistle blew he 
wended his way unsteadily down to the 
landing and, the plank having been with- 
drawn, essayed to jump across the few 
feet of intervening space, in spite of the 
remonsfrances of the mate, and deck 
hands, who hastily prepared to put out 
the plank and assist him aboard. 

He would not wait, however, assur- 
ing them that he could make it, and be- 
fore they could stop him attempted the 
leap, which had he been even reasonably 
sober, he could have easily made. 

— 226 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


It was too much for his wobbly legs, 
however, and he fell short, and went into 
the river, striking, his head on the guard 
rail as he went down, and sank like a log' 
under the muddy water. 

A dozen ready hands were instantly 
available to rescue him when he came to> 
the surface and two men sprang into the 
water after him, but he did not rise and 
they were finally compelled to give him. 
up as lost. 

' The boat w^as shifted and the river- 
dragged, but an undercurrent must have 
carried his body far afield, for they found 
no trace of him. 

xAfter a delay of several hours caused' 
by the accident, the boat finally pulled out 
and went on her way up streafh. 

0 


— 227 — 


CHAPTER TWELVE 


Tlse Long Winter in Jim town — Signs of 
The Spring at Last — The Arrival of 
The First Boat — The Sarah — ^News 
Of Joe’s Death. 


We left the committee of miners who 
had escorted Joe to the bank of the river 
watching him till he drifted out of sight. 

Having thus accomplished their mis- 
sion they turned with one accord and 
mushed silently back up the gulch in the 
direction of Jimtown. 

Here they arrived in time for a late 
breakfast, having spent the whole night 
over the discussion of the robberies and 
the subsequent events that had settled 
- 228 -^ 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


the identity of- the marauder and also 
meted out his punishment. 

Having eaten they went back to their 
claims and resumed work as if nothing: 
had happened, for there was no time to 
lose at this seasn of the year, except for 
the few that had been forehanded enoogti 
to finish their cleanup early and get 
things in shape for the winter. 

There were none of these among our 
committeemen, however, and they most 
work another day before they could spare 
time for a thot of sleep, tired as they 
were. 

The matter was thus soon forgotten 
and everything in the camp went on as 
usual at this season of the year. 

And winter was soon upon them. 

First came a light fall of snow and 
two or three nights of sharp frost, M- 
lowed by colder days and finally steady 
— 229 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


cold weather set in, with occasional snow 
storms, and winter was on in earnest. 

Frorn now until spring all there was to 
do in the little camp was amuse them- 
selves as best they could, and occasionally 
hunt or cut wood a few days. 

Most of the miners had in their win- 
ter’s supply of wood, however, and^ as 
game was none too plentiful most of them 
also preferred to depend on the Indians 
for fresh meat. 

Between the dance halls, card and 
other games and a few attempts at ama- 
teur theatricals the time did not seem 
nearly so long as one would think, and 
Jim and May found enough to talk about 
to occupy most of their spare time. 

Jim had given up his own cabin en- 
tirely to May and the Indian girls, whom 
he had persuaded to remain with May at 
least till spring, and had built another for 
— 230 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


himself on a claim ‘further up the creek, 
but the path between the two was always 
kept well broken, tho he took good care 
not to compromise May in any way. 

May was also persuaded to assist at 
some of the amateur theatricals, and ac- 
quitted herself so well that she was soon 
the idol of the camp, tho her ready smile 
and pleasant greeting for ail had as much 
or more to do with that as her histrionic 
talent. 

At Christmas time she was the re- 
cipient of many presents, each of the 
boys seeming to vie with the rest to see 
who could do the most to make the holi- 
day one to be long remembered by her. 

.Many of these gifts were odd shaped 
nuggets, resembling animals, birds oi 
mountain scenes, and these are frequtnely 
worth many times their gold value as 
curiosities, but of all the presents she re- 
— 231 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


ceived there was none she valued more 
highly than a handsome skin coat^ 
trimmed with fine fur and sewed by hand 
with sinew, the gift of the two Indian 
girls, who also added a fine pair of warm 
leggings and a pair of fur gloves, all the 
work of their own hands. 

May broke down and cried when the 
girls presented her with their gifts, for 
tho she had in no way slighted them she 
had not been as cordial in her relations 
with them as she might, and had no idea 
they were planning anything of this kind 
for her. 

But Wauna and Nai-e-tah soon made 
her understand that they loved her be-- 
cause she loved Jim, whom they looked on 
as little short of a God, and that anyone 
who was a friend of his was also a friend 
of theirs. 

May puzzled long over this evidence 
— 232 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


of their unselfish regard for Jim, and fin- 
ally had to acknowledge to herself that 
they were more worthy of his regard 
than she herself, and she never forgot or 
neglected them again. 

In January the weather was clear 
and cold and one night Jim, who had been 
paying his customary evening call and 
had started home, came back and called 
her to the door. 

She never forgot the sight that 
greeted her eyes. 

The whole sky was lighted up with 
the most brilliant display of '‘Northern 
Lights,’’ or Aurora Borealis, that she had 
ever seen. 

From east to west they flashed and 
crackled and at times seemed to come so 
low one could almost imagine they were 
within reach. 

No words will adequately describe 


— 233 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


such a sight, and one must spend a win- 
ter or two in the North to properly grasp 
the immensity of such a display. 

It is a phenomena of nature that 
scientists haive puzzled in vain to explain 
satisfactorily, and they are as far from 
the solution today as they ever were. 

Some claim it to be electricity, some 
that it is the reflection of the sun’s rays 
on the ice around the pole, some one 
thing and some another, but to this day 
it remains a mystery and no satisfactory 
evidence of the truth of any of the nu- 
merous theories has been forthcoming. 

She called the girls, to whom, of 
course the sight was no novelty, and to- 
gether the four watched the display for a 
long time. 

It was particularly brilliant tonight, 
and in addition to that v/as showing many 
colors, tho the light is generally white. 

— 234 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


Finally it began to fade and they 
went inside once more, but May will nev- 
er forget that sight, nor will anyone who 
has ever been fortunate enough , to wit- 
ness one like it. 

If one is able to afford it it is well 
worth their wljiie to spend a winter in the 
far north for the sight of one of these- 
displays alone. 

Nowhere else on the continent is it 
to be-seen in such a wonderful brilliance 
and such vivid coloring, often filling the 
whole sky from horizon to horizon and 
from the north to well past the zenith and 
occ?.,sionally even farther. , ' - 

May and Jim talked for many even- 
ings about it and speculated on its prob- 
able cause, a,s have many others, and in 
this way passed many a long evening. 

February passed and’ then March 
and the days were getting much longer 
-- 235 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


and the sun much higher in the sky at 
noon. 

They now began to take long trips 
into the hills with the dog teams, and on 
one occasion even went as far as the In- 
dian village, returning a few days later 
laden with presents of skins and fresh 
meat, the gift of the old chief, who 
seemed to think as much of Jim as if he 
were his own son. 

Finally April wore away, and with 
the first few weeks of May the weather 
began to moderate considerably, even get- 
ting uncomfortably warm during the mid- 
dle of the day 

The snow began to settle, too, and 
here and there bare spots began to show 
on the sunny slopes of the hills. 

Jim came in one morning with both 
hads full of early crocusses and violets, 
the first of the wonderful variety of flow- 
— 236 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


ers found in that country to appear in 
the spring, tho they are quickly followed 
by all the rest in constant succession and 
wonderf uh profusion. 

"‘First signs of spring, sweetheart,’^ 
he cried as he met her. “In the spring a 
young man’s fancy lightly turns to thots 
of love,” he quoted as he placed the flow- 
ers in her hands. 

And this was the first word of any- 
thing that might have been called love he 
had spoken to her since that terrible 
night when Joe disappeared down the riv- 
er in the darkness. 

For Jim was the soul of honor. 

She was another man’s wife, and un- 
til the barrier had been removed he 
would not seek to embarras her. 

Then came June, and the river at 
last showed signs of breaking up. 

May had never seen this sight, and 
— 237 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


Jim made daily trips now to the landing 
to watch for the first signs of movement 
of the ice. 

When it came at' last h^ hastened 
back and brought her to see the sight, 
which is really one never to be forgotten. 

Thousands of tons of ice, in great 
cakes and floes, many of them i^rom six 
to ten feet in thickness are passing by in 
that crushing, grinding mass, or are 
hurled out bodily onto the ' bank to . lie 
there for weeks till they melt away, while 
others, equally large are ground to pow- 
der as easily as a child would crush a but- 
terfly. 

It is truly an awsome spectacle, and 
fully in keeping with the general immens- 
ity of things in that country. 

Finally, tired of even this wonderful 
sight, they wended the'^^ way back to 
camp, where Wanna a! :d Nai-e-tah had 
— 238 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


an appetizing dinner awaiting them, tho 
they needed nothing to sharpen'Hhe appe- 
tites the brisk walk in the wonderful air 
of the north had given them. 

It would only be a few days now till 
the. boats would be running, and they 
would be once more in touch with the out- 
side w'orld. 

What would the summer bring forth 
for them? 

At last one morning the welcome 
whistle was heard down the river, and 
everyone able to do so hastened to the 
landing, May and Jim among the rest. 

They reached the landing just as the 
lines were being made fast, and May re- 
called with a shudder how nearly she had 
come to losing her life at this time a year 
previous. 

As before they went aboard till the 
freight should be landed to have an op- 
—■ 239 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


portunity to talk with the passengers^ 
with some of whom Jim was acquainted. 

There was not nearly as much 
freight this spring as the last and they 
talked fast, ommitting all unnecessary 
details, till just before the warning whis- 
tle sounded some one among the passen- 
gers chanced to mention the drowning of 
the drunken passenger as they were leav- 
ing St. Michaels. ^ 

The vivid description given of the 
man tallied with that of Joe so precisely 
that Jim's curiosity was aroused and he 
inquired the name of the unfortunate vic- 
tim .of his own over-indulgence. 

None of the passengers seemed to 
know, but they told Jim that the man's 
passage had been booked thru to the 
Iditirod, and Jin^ hunted up the purser, 
whom he Jcnew could furnish the infor- 
mation if this was the case, and was not 
— 240 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


surprised to learn that it was indeed Joe, 
and that there was absolutely no doubt of 
his having been drowned, if the blow he 
received on his head as he fell had not 
killed him before he even reached the 
water. 

The whistle sounded just then and 
they had to hurry ashore, but several of 
the others had heard the news as well as 
Jim, and even before the boat was well 
under way hastened to tell him the news, 
in a whisper, thinking- perhaps he hadn’t 
heard it in the cabin, where he and May 
had been all the time they were aboard. 

He merely answered* that he had 
heard of it, thanked them, and hastily 
went oft up the trail with May, for he did 
not wish her to learn of Joe’s death until 
she was home, tho he could not believe 
ihere was any feeling in her heart for 
— 241 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


him after all he had done to make her life 
miserable. 

But May had heard. 

She walked along with downcast 
eyes and did not speak till they were in- 
side the cabin, when she lifted her eyes* 
to his and said in a tone that thrilled him 
thru and thru, ‘‘free at last ! Thank God 
and burst into tears. 

They were tears of joy, not of sor- 
row, but Jim did not know it at first and 
after seating her comfortably in a chair 
he started for the door, thinking to leave 
her alone for a while till she had time to 
regain control of her feelings. 

But she saw the move almost before 
he had started. 

*'Jim,’’ she called softly. 

‘'Surely you are not going to leave 
me now.” 

And with one look into her eyes he 
^ 242 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


turned and sank to his knees on the floor' 
at her side, taking her in his arms acdl 
caressing her tenderly. 

How long they remained thus they 
never knew, but when the girls came Ib 
some time later their faces wore a smile 
of supreme happiness that there was »© 
mistaking.- ^ 



— 243 — 


CHAPTER THIRTEEN 


Prepares for a Trip Outside — Escort- 
ed to the Boat — A Quiet Wedding 
Trip — Arrival at Seattle. 


For once Jim seemed to be in a hur- 

He at once began making prepara- 
ftifiis for a trip outside, and he had much 
•130 do if he would catch the Sarah on her 
trip. 

Neither he nor May had as yet seen 
list portion of the country, and so they 
(ifegided to go out by way of St. Michaels, 
m^ere they would be married and take 
•iMe Seattle steamer from there, thus 
aafsrding them the added pleasure of the 
— 244 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


trip down the coast instead of the tog" 
tedious voyage up the river. 

He had several men in his emiLhs^ 
■whorn he felt he could trust to look 
his interests during his absence, andici«^ 
of these he placed in charge of all hik. 
holdings with absolute authority to act; 
for him in every capacity, while 
others were given charge of the workom 
different claims under him. 

He told the miners of the story of 
May’s wrongs and of his own struggsoj, 
hopes and fears, and that now that tfe 
last barrier had been removed, he m<£ 
May were to be married as soon as fiBjr 
arrived at St. Michaels, there being 
preist at Jimtown yet. 

The rough miners of the north hw& 
hearts as big as their bodies and it iafl 
not take long to plan a reception for .te 
happy pair, to take place the day beifiore; 

— 245 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


tl^e boat was expected, and a triumphal 
escort to the landing when the boat ar- 
riYcd. 

And it was some reception and some 
escort. 

Both Jim and May were idolized by 
the entire camp, and the boys were de- 
termined to send them off in style. ^ 

When the day of the reception ar- 
rived the happy pair, who had been givv 
en no inkling that anything was afoot, 
were captured by a band of masked ban- 
dits and taken as prisoners to the largest 
fiance hall, which had been especially pre- 
pared for the occasion and was decorated 
with flowers and bunting, and seated at 
the head of a long table in1:he center. 

Another table also ran the length ol 
the hall on each side, and practically 
«wryone in the camp was already there 
seated when they arrived. 

— 246 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


As they were led to the places pre- 
pared for^ them every person around the 
tables rose to their feet and the cheer 
that rose fairly shook the logs of the 
building. 

The tables were loaded with the fin- 
est viands obtainable, tho in deference to 
Joe’s well-known objection to liquor, 
there was no wine. 

This, for an occasion of this kind 
and in this kind of a comunity, was one 
of the highest tributes that could have 
been paid to the persnality of the man 
they were about to honor. 

Several of the miners made short 
speeches, the burden of which was in 
each case the conveyance of the best 
wishes of the entire camp to the happy 
,pair, to which both Jim and May replied 
with voices that were vibrant with the 
deepest feeling, for neither had expectea 
— 247 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


any demonstration of this kind in their 
honor. 

When the meal was disposed of the 
tables- disappeared as if by magic, and 
the combined orchastras of both the 
dance halls struck up Mendleshon’s Wed- 
ding March, while all present formed in 
line with the happy couple placed at the 
head and circled the hall several times to 
the music. 

A waltz followed and then a two- 
step, and the dance was on. 

Everybody danced, and as there were 
not nearly enough women, to go around 
many of the miners danced with each 
other. 

It was indeed a happy event and one 
that will long be remembered by every- 
one present. 

The dancing was kept up till near 
morning, and May managed to favor all 
— 248 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


of the miners with whom she was person- 
ally acquainted and many whom she had 
not met till that evening, with a dance. 

Of course it was impossible to get 
around them all, tho her favors were so 
evenly distributed that none felt slighted 
and when at last they started for home 
they were escorted to the door by almost 
the entire crowed. 

.. The crowd followed them to the dooi 
and MajT' arid Jim turned to say good 
night, but they kept on coming. 

Jim opened the door and May 
stepped inside and tho Jim stood his 
ground for a moment it was evidently 
the intention of the crowd to see the in- 
side of the cabin, so he stepped in, fol- 
lowed by as many as could crowd into the 
room. 

Each had a parcel in his hand or in 
a convenient pocket, and these they pro- 
— 249 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


ceeded to deposit without a word on the 
table, each one as soon as he had done so 
turning for the door and making his way 
outside so as to make foom for the others,, 
for they were still coming in as fast a:? 
there was room for them to stand. 

When they had finished the table 
was piled full and there was a surplus in 
several other convenient places about the 
room. 

•Everyone was smiling and happy and 
they had kept up an incessant line of con- 
versation while all this was 'going on, but 
now all of a sudden there was silence. 

One of the boys who was known as a 
good talker on all subjects and occasions 
now stepped forw^ard and, addressing the 
happy couple, who also seemed to have 
stepped forward of their own accord, tho 
really they were forced to do so by the' 
movements of the crowd in the room, 
— 250 — 


LOVE'S CROOKED PATH 


made a really impressive presentation 
speech, telling them that these simple 
gifts, while not exactly the things thej^ 
might have selected as wedding presents 
under ordinary circumstances and out- 
side, were intended to convey to them the 
best wishes of the entire community for 
their future happiness as well as the hope 
that they would not forget either the giv- 
ers or the glorious northland in which 
their happiness was about to reach its 
flood tide. 

Jim was completely overcome by the 
demonstration but macfe an effort to re- 
ply, telling the boys* that he was not in- 
tending to remain outside, but that they 
•would hereafter at least spend a portion 
of each summer in the little camp that 
had been so good to both of them. 

As he finished some of the boys who. 
eould sing struck up that old chorus “For 
- 251 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” during whieli 
they all managed to get outside, and weat 
off in the direction from which they had 
come, singing as they went. 

May and Jim stood in the door for 
some time watching them, and at last 
May looked up into Jim’s face with ej^ 
brimming with tears, and said: 

‘T never used to think I would like 
the North to live in always, Jim, but this 
will always be home to me hereafter.” 

And he folded her to his heart and 
whispered, “Yes, darling, this will always 
be home.” 

He bade her good night a few min- 
utes later, for they must be up early and 
it was not far fr^ morning now, and 
wended his way to his own cabin. 

He wondered somewhat at the quiet 
of the village as he passed thru on his 
way home, and at the absence of people 
— 252 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


on the street, but supposed they were all 
tired and had gone to bed, and thot no 
more of it at the time, tho in the morning 
^hen they went to the landing he under- 
stood. 

He was up and dressed for the jour- 
ney and at May’s door at nine next mom- 
ing, and found her also about ready to 
start for the boat, which would probably 
he in about eleven if she left Dawson on 
time, which was usually the case. 

'TOiile they stood talking inside the 
cabin there was something going on out- 
side that escaped their notice entirely till 
they opened the door to come out. 

As they stepped outside the door two 
of the smaller men of the camp dressed 
as pages, relieved them of their hand bag- 
gage, while Wauna and Nai-e-tah, with 
wreaths of wild flowers in their hair and 
— 253 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


about their shoulders took up a position 
on each side. 

As they stepped out onto the main 
trail leading to the landing they found 
nearly the whole village lined up on either 
side of the road. 

Walking on between this double fife 
of self constituted guards they found 
waiting for them at the further end 
something as near approaching a band 
the village was able to furnish. 

There were the violins from the 
dance halls, two cornets, a trombone and 
a clarionet, and as they neared the end of 
this long line of smiling faces the musi- 
cians again struck up the wedding march 
and played continuously all the way to 
the landing. 

The regular time of the music was 
quickened a trifle to make it better to 
walk by and the lane of faces closed be- 
— 254 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


hind them and formed a parkde nearly a 
quarter of a mile long. 

But it was when they reached the 
landing that they got the real surprise. 

At the point where the gulch opened 
onto the beach a magnificent arch of 
evergreens had been built over the trail 
and a small grove of evergreens had been 
set in the sand below to represent a park, 
in which a rude rustic seat had been con- 
trived, shaded from the rays of the sun 
by ' the evergreens stuck in the sand 
/ around. 

Here they were seated and almost 
immediately served with a light lunch of 
cold fowl, salads, hot biscuits and coffee. 

Nor did they eat alone, there was 
plenty for. all and everyone stood or sat 
around with a tin plate and cup and ate 
and talked till the boat came, whistling 
round the bend above. 


— 255 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


There was still some little time be- 
fore the -boat had nosed gently in to the 
bank and the plank was put out for them 
to come aboard, and May and Jim em- 
ployed this in shaking hands with the en- 
tire crowd, and endeavoring to express 
their appreciation of the kindness and 
consideration shown them. 

At last the plank was ready, how- 
ever, and they must go aboard. 

As they started from the little seat 
it began to rain — rice — and - the shower 
lasted till they had entered the cabin, 
many of the crowd following them aboard 
for a last chance to pay their respects. 

But the whistle soon put a stop to it 
all and in a few minutes more the great 
boat swung out into the stream and they 
were away on their journey. 

There were not many passengers 
aboard and thejr would practically have 
— 256 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


the boat to themselves on the trip down 
the river, but they stood on deck and 
watched the familiar faces on shore till 
they blended with the surrounding ob- 
jects and a moment later the bend in the 
river shut them out entirely from view. 

The trip down the river was un- 
eventful and they arrived in St. Michaels 
on time, where they lost no time in pay- 
ing a visit to the preist, after which they 
booked passage for Seattle on the next 
steamer, which was due to sail from 
Nome on the next day. 

Their troubles over at last we will 
leave them for the present, and some day 
weT may tell you of the wonderful times 
they have, in the North every summer, 
for Jim still holds his claims and they go 
inside every summer to look after them 
and visit with their old friends. 

FINIS 

— 257 — 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER ONE— 

The Gold Fever Interferes With the 
Course of Tru Love, 7 

CHAPTER TWO— 

The Wonders of The Inside Channel — 
Arrival At Skagway, 22 

CHAPTER THREE— 

The Trail — Building a Boat — The Trip 
Down the River to the Land of 
Gold, 39 

CHAPTER FOUR— 

Jim Starts on a Trip and Makes a Dis- 
covery — At Last He Has Wealth Be- 
yond His Wildest Dreams. Discour- 
aging News, 60 

CHAPTER SIX— 

An Interesting Journey — ^Reforming a 
Drunkard — News of Jim at 
Last, 92 


■ 258 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


CHAPTER SEVEN— 

A Terrible Trip — Si washing in Mid-Win- 
ter — The Arrival at Jimtown. A 
Serious Illness— Jim Doesn’t Recog- 


nize Her, 126 

CHAPTER EIGHT— 

Recognition at Last — The Barrier — Joe 
Appears on The Scene, 141 

CHAPTER NINE— 


Joe Discovers May’s Presence in Camp. 
Snipers at Work. A Squaw Man and 
A Sot — Joe’s Character Revealed — 
A Drunken Brawl, 167 

CHAPTER TEN— 

Suspicion — Circumstantial Evidence — 
A Deep Laid Plot — Many a Slip- 


Caught With the Goods — Vindica- 
tion and Retribution, 188 

CHAPTER ELEVEN— 

Joe’s Trip Down the River By Raft — 
A Welcome Sight, 203 

CHAPTER TWELVE— 


The Long Winter in Jimtown — Signs 
of The Spring at Last — ^The Arrival 
of The First Boat — The Sarah — 
News of Joe’s Death, 288 


. — 259 — 


LOVE’S CEOOKED PATH 


CHAPTER THIRTEEN— 

Jim Prepared for a Trip Outside — Es- 
corted to the Boat — A Quiet Wed- 
ding Trip — Arrival at Seattle, .... 244 


GLOSSARY OF TERMS 


CARIBOO — A Game Animal, Between an Elk 
and a Deer Which is very plentiful in the 
North. They run m Herds, like Buffalo. 

MOUNTAIN SHEEP— A Game Animal found 
in the Mountains which part£\,kes of the na- 
ture of the. Sheep. 

WHITE LAND— The Northen Slopes of the 
Arctic regions from which the snow is nev- 
er entirely gone. 

FIVE FINGER RAPIDS — So named because of 
five rocks like the fingers of a man's hand 
rising out of the water to a considerable 
height. 

HELL’S GATE — So named in the early days be- 
cause of both its deceptive and dangerous 
features. 

STRIKE — A discovery of gold or other precious 
minerals. 

SQUAW MAN — One who marries or co-habits 
with a Squaw. 


- 261 — 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


SIWASHING — SIWASH — Camping out in the 
open in winter without a tent. A rude shel 
ter or wind break made of boughs. 

CAMP- — A mining town or city. 

CIRCLE CITY — So named because located ex- 
actly on the Arctic Circle. 

PTARMIGAN — A game bird something like a 
Pigeon, very plentiful in the North. 

MUSH — Walk — ^to travel on foot — to drive a 
dog team — “Mushing dogs.” 

BREED— Half-breed. 

KLONDYKE — In the early days the entire 
North country was given this name, which 
really applies only to a small river which 
empties into the Yukon at Dawson. 

INSIDE CHANNEI./ — A narrow salt water pas- 
sage between the mainland and the fringe 
of islands which skirts the Patfific Coast 
from Alaska to the Southern line of Briti.'ih 
Columbia. 

INSIDE — The entire country back from the 
coast after crossing the mountains. 

POKE — A small bag, usually made of tanned 
skins of wild animals and provided with a 
string of the same material, used to carry 
nuggets and gold dust. 


-- 262 — 


LOVE S CROOKED PATH 


WHITE WATER— Rapids. 

OUTSIDE — Vancouver, Victoria or Seattle — 
any place except the North. 

PORTAGE — To carry. A place where canoos 

and goods must be carried past a rapids oi 
fall, 

POT-HOLE — A small spot of rich ground in a 
. barren section. 

PAY STREAK— The gravel next to bed-rock in 
which the most of the gold is carried. 

SLUICE BOXES — ^Troughs made to conduct the 
water over the riffles. 

FLUME — A ditch, whether made in the earth or 
constructed of boards, to carry the water to 
I’le shiice boxes. 

RIFFLES — Small sticks placed at short inter- 
vals crosswise in the bottoms of the sluice 
boxes. 

TRAIL — Road or footpath. 

-i- 

SHOVELLING IN— Shovelling the “pay dirt'' 
into the sluice boxes to be washed by the 
running water. 

SNIPING — Stealing. Working a claim not your 
own. 


— 26 a 


LOVE’S CROOKED PATH 


QUICK — Quicksilver, placed in the bottom of 
the sluice boxes above the riffles to help 
catch the ^ne gola. 

DUST — Fine particles of gold. 

SHORE ICE — The thin ice which first forms at 
the edges of the river in the fall. 

THROWING SLUSH ICE— Ice formed further 
up by earlier snows, and which comes down 
with the stream in small cakes. 

WICKIUP — A V-shaped shelter easily and 
quicklj-^ thrown up by placing one end of a 
long pole in the crotch formed ^y tying two 
others together near their ends and then 
spreading the long ends apart. A blanket 
or tarpaulin is thrown over this, which 
makes a small but cosy shelter open only 
at' one end. 

LAY — Working a claim on shares — a percent- 
age basis. The miner accepts as his pay a 
fixed percentage of what gold he takes out. 

NORTHERN LIGHTS— The Aurora Borealis, 
whch in this country is often most wonder- 
fully brilliant, frequently covering nearly 
the whole sky. 


* 



264 — 


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